Municipal and county officials in Cecil County, as well as their counterparts across the Susquehanna River in Havre de Grace, and state legislators who represent the area have been meeting in recent weeks as they work to get tolls lowered on the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge.
"It's a terrible impact on the people of Harford and Cecil counties," State Sen.-elect Wayne Norman said Monday regarding the $8 cash toll that is charged to drivers of standard two-axle vehicles as they use Route 40 to cross from Harford County to Cecil.
Drivers of private and commercial vehicles that have more than two axles must pay more in cash. Drivers pay $16 for three-axle vehicles, $24 for four-axle vehicles, $48 for five-axle vehicles and $60 for vehicles with six axles or more, according to the website of the Maryland Transportation Authority.
The same rates are charged to drivers crossing the Millard E. Tydings Memorial Bridge on I-95 from Harford to Cecil, making the rates the highest charged among the MdTA's eight toll facilities.
Members of the Cecil County Council and Cecil County Executive Tari Moore put together the Hatem Bridge Toll Work Group in mid-November to determine how tolls can be reduced, study the economic impact of the high tolls and hear from members of the public.
The group held public meetings Dec. 4 and 18. Del.-elect Kevin Hornberger, who resides in North East and represents Subdistrict 35A in Cecil County, said the "biggest complaint" from the public has been tolls for multi-axle vehicles.
The toll rates are much lower for drivers who use the prepaid E-ZPass system, but Hornberger said drivers who have hitched a trailer to their two-axle vehicles must pay the full cash rate even if they normally use E-ZPass.
"That Hatem plan is no longer effective, and you have to pay whatever the rate is for the [extra] axle, on top of your vehicle," he said.
Drivers can pay $20 a year to cross just the Hatem Bridge with their two-axle vehicle, or they can pay $20 a year for unlimited trips across the bridge, in addition to the fees they pay for their current E-ZPass accounts, and their pass will be accepted at any toll facility that takes E-ZPass.
More information can be found online at http://www.mdta.maryland.gov/Toll_Rates/hatem_rates.html.
Norman, who is moving from the House of Delegates to the State Senate next month, said that extra toll affects Harford residents who want to cross the river and put their boats in the water off Elk Neck State Park in Cecil County. Norman's new Senate district straddles parts of both counties.
"It costs more than $8 to get a single-axle trailer across the river," he lamented. "It's ridiculous."
John Sales, a spokesman for the MdTA, confirmed the E-ZPass plans only apply to two-axle vehicles.
He noted in an email that "you cannot get a discount plan like this at any other toll facility in the State."
Sales said his agency has had "no contact" with the toll work group, but Cecil officials have expressed their desire to meet with the MdTA board in 2015.
Economist Anirban Basu, of Towson, who is also a member of Gov.-elect Larry Hogan's transition team, conducted an economic impact study for the work group.
Tom Lofland, Havre de Grace's economic development director, said during a Dec. 15 City Council meeting that he had received a copy of the economic impact study, and he noted "they had the foresight to include the City of Havre de Grace in the study."
"There's a lot of interesting facts about the impact it has had on the City of Havre de Grace and Cecil County," Lofland said.
Lofland said surveys will be sent out among Havre de Grace business leaders to determine how the higher tolls have affected the economic climate in the city.
The MdTA board approved the toll increases for the Hatem and Tydings bridges in 2011, and they took effect July 1, 2013. The cash toll for two-axle vehicles increased from $6 to $8, and the E-ZPass plan for Hatem doubled from $10 to $20.
MdTA officials also announced in late 2013 a plan to remove the cash tollbooths from the Hatem Bridge in 2014 and only accept E-ZPass, since more than 90 percent of motorists used E-ZPass at the time.
The plan generated a significant public outcry, however, and Cecil and Harford legislators introduced and got passed a proposal to shelve that for at least two years.
Norman was among those who worked on the legislation in the House of Delegates. He said he and his fellow legislators plan to work with Hogan and his administration on getting the tolls lowered.
Norman will also be a member of the Senate's Budget and Taxation Committee, which is among the most powerful committees in the Maryland General Assembly and has sway over much of the state's transportation funding.
Legislators get sworn in Jan. 14, and the governor Jan. 21.
"Everybody I know that represents Cecil and Harford County are just itching to get down there and start working on this," Norman said.