The groups, who are asking for a temporary restraining order, to halt the demolition, also allege that the authority lacks the power to destroy the bridge under environmental laws, stating in a complaint, "Using explosives to demolish parts of the Historic Nice Bridge or the rubble from the bridge to create a 'reef' has not been evaluated appropriately for the impact on the natural habitat and human environment, including the taking of endangered species or disruption of their habitats. The Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail Association, the Potomac Heritage Trail Association, and Oxon Hill Bicycle and Trail Club filed a lawsuit over the change late last month and argued that saving the 80-year-old Nice Bridge for pedestrian and bicycle use would remedy the issue. BALTIMORE, Md. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. may proceed after judges ruling, Video Series: Off the Record with Sloane Brown, YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS/PRIVACY POLICY, Marris Hoffee and Jamie Ferguson | Mid-Shore Pro Bono, Sheila McDonald, Marciel Rojas Rosario, Derek L. Simmons, Chick Zoll and Michael Latimer | Board of Child Care. Maryland officials said it was that decision that appeared to bring additional federal scrutiny. It just doesnt make sense in this day and age to build a bridge without dedicated space for cyclists and pedestrians, said Bill Niedringhaus, president of the Potomac Heritage Trail Association. Maryland officials then began laying the groundwork for alternative forms of borrowing. The new bridge is complete, but the groups argued that Boardman could still order Maryland to preserve the old bridge an approach that had the backing of federal lawmakers. Garman told board members that, in his view, the federal money was in jeopardy.. Accepted for toll-free travel in the I-580 Express Lanes. Hogan (R) announced construction plans in 2016 as part of a far-reaching agenda to upgrade the states transportation networks. The invoice will be for the amount of the bridge toll(s) with no additional fees. [20], On November 21, 2013, Governor Martin OMalley announced that the MDTA Board has approved an additional $50 million in its final six-year capital program (FY 2014 FY 2019) to fund initial design and right-of-way acquisition for the project to replace the Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge (US 301), which connects Charles County, Maryland and King George County, Virginia, across the Potomac River. The MDTA said in a statement that it appreciated the judges ruling. [7] By contrast, the approach roads on both sides of the bridge feature four 12-foot (3.7m) lanes (2 in each direction), full shoulders, and 55mph (89km/h) speed limits. David M. Higgins II is an award-winning journalist passionate about uncovering the truth and telling compelling stories. - Weather permitting, on Tuesday, March 15, two-way traffic will operate on northbound US 301 so work can begin to remove the existing Nice/Middleton Bridge toll plaza. The $6.00 fee was due on January 21st (notice mail date was some time in December). Brickley called it a quest to make sure the bridge can be incapacitated.. [13][14] In October 2018, the name of retiring state Senator Thomas M. Middleton was added to the bridge, making it officially the Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial/Senator Thomas "Mac" Middleton Bridge. The new Nice-Middleton Bridge over the Potomac River connecting Maryland and Virginia is scheduled to open on Wednesday. From the latest estimated Harry W Nice Memorial Bridge toll prices to payment options, Uproad lets you know the rules of the road. File. Works great for this. Here on Uproad.com, you'll find what to expect during your travels on Harry W Nice Memorial Bridge toll information. Learn how to get started with FasTrak. And the MDTA has not provided a. But Maryland transportation officials refused to alter their plans, according to the documents obtained under the Maryland Public Information Act. As its name suggests, this city lies precisely one mile (5280 feet) above sea level. During a three-hour court hearing, the lawyer hired by the cycling coalition said leaving the original Nice-Middleton Bridge in place would preserve the opportunity to use it for recreation. The project is being coordinated with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), and is proceeding in conjunction with the Maryland State Highway Administration's U.S. Route 301 South Corridor Transportation Study[19] Visit our Discount Plan FAQs for more information. License Plate Accounts are an option for drivers who choose to pay as they go. A License Plate Account uses your license plate number to identify your vehicle and matches it to your account. Wider sidewalks, higher railings, new lighting planned for Roosevelt Bridge. We put up a good fight.. The wait is nearly over for travelers around the region. Located in Maryland, the Harry W Nice Memorial Bridge is a major bridge facility. He said the failure to include a bike/pedestrian lane on a bridge that is forecast to last 100 years is a blight on Maryland., The lack of transparency by the Maryland administration probably disappoints me as much as anything else, he added. [23] The approved bridge design has several design alterations which shave more than $200 million from the originally projected price of around $1 billion, allowing Governor Hogan to shift his support in favor of the bridge. The new, four-lane bridge will be tall enough to accommodate large ships and will address safety and. David Brickley, president of the Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail Association, one of the plaintiffs, said after the hearing that he was disappointed with the ruling, adding that the groups did not have money to file an appeal. Governor Harry W. Nice/Senator Thomas "Mac" Middleton Bridge 9665 Orland Park Rd Newburg MD 20664. Access to the E-ZPass Maryland Customer Service Center (CSC) will be from Orland Park Road until the new bridge opens. The law gives federal officials little say in how projects are designed generally requiring them to approve loans to creditworthy applicants but Marylands application was pulled from the agenda of the Transportation Departments Council on Credit and Finance in August. Dont let them spoil a trip. But a group of biking and outdoor enthusiasts is saying that as the new. Hogan visited the bridge in 2016, announcing that he had allocated funding for a replacement and that it would be complete by 2023 well ahead of a 2030 date mandated by the General Assembly. The bridge was the first south of Washington, D.C. to provide a highway link between Maryland and Virginia. The steel two-lane bridge was constructed in 1940. He has served as reporter, anchor and producer/host of 21 This Week in Montgomery County. Still, the federal loan was more appealing because it would allow the state to lock in what would likely be a lower interest rate before drawing on the federal funds in 2023. The original Nice-Middleton Bridge (left) and the replacement span (right) in August, as seen from a Maryland Transportation Authority flyover. The Kansas Highway is the only toll road in the state, running in all directions from the border with Oklahoma. Plan for the Nice bridge is $52.50 and offers 25 trips. That led officials to decide to remove three similar parts and mobilize demolition crews. She found that the plaintiffs, a group of trail associations that would have benefitted from a path for bicyclists and pedestrians, waited too long to seek court intervention to prevent the scheduled demolition. You can point to this as a great example of where the administration is constrained by the law.. If youre visiting or only in the area for a short time, a One-Time Payment may be best for you. The cycle begins when you open your account and runs on the same day each month. Cyclist groups seek to delay demolition of old Nice Bridge, Maryland's plan to build Fairfax toll lanes is an unwelcome, Proposal to reduce cosmetology licensure hours sparks. Rt. With the aging, narrow bridge seen as a traffic bottleneck, Maryland Gov. Phone: 410-517-0715 Fax: 410-517-0716, Registered Women Owned Business Enterprise, Harry Nice Bridge Geotechnical Instrumentation Case Study, Baltimore Arena Geotechnical Redevelopment and Design. When driving from the west, it passes near Lake Michigan and the Indiana Dunes, near Chesterton and Michigan City, the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, and the Amish community of Nappanee, Middlebury, and Shipshewana. - A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit brought by outdoor enthusiasts and bicyclist groups to maintain the old Harry Nice/Middleton Bridge (US 301) did not meet the standards . But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. The decision appeared to end a years-long dispute, part of a battle over how to accommodate non-drivers on a major river crossing that was designed to last a century.[5]. The app saves me a ton extra minutes every day. Weekly project team meetings between representatives of the geotechnical instrumentation specialist (FTG), contractor, owner, designers of record, and other participating parties have provided a collaborative setting to ensure quality construction methods are being met while maintaining safe operation of the existing bridge and future performance of the new bridge. But the toll authority decided the $64 million it would cost could be better spent converting shoulders to additional driving lanes on a section of Interstate 95. In a letter to federal lawmakers in July, Maryland Transportation Secretary James F. Ports said there were concerns about scour if the bridge were left standing. The Harry W Nice Memorial Bridge is one of the busiest in Maryland. The agencys leaders have said there is no way to maintain the old crossing. [26] However, bicycle advocacy groups, which include Potomac Heritage Trail Association, Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Association and Oxon Hill Bicycle and Trail Club, allege in a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, that state agencies, including the MDTA, violated state and federal environmental review laws by changing the project from its original conception and failing to study the impact of demolishing the bridge. In 2014, the bridge handled approximately 6.4 million vehicles, with a daily average of approximately 17,500.[1]. Plans for a replacement showed up on the Maryland Transportation Authoritys drawing boards about a decade ago with construction finally launched last summer. All-electronic tolling was made permanent in August 2020. NEWBURG, Md. [4] The new Nice Bridge opened to traffic in October 2022. Route 5 . Yo. Denver The Mile High City. Brian Wolfe, the MDTAs director of project development, testified that the authority knew in June that the new span would be ready for traffic in late September or early October. In their lawsuit filed in late September, the advocacy groups alleged that the 2019 design changes werent properly evaluated under federal and state environmental laws. Transit: Metro to spend $55 million on wheel repairs after release of NTSB report, Air travel: Bidens FAA nominee appears before Senate committee, Rail safety: Federal advisory urges railroads to improve use of safety detectors, DOT jets: Transportation Department watchdog to audit Buttigiegs use of government jets. This May 2014 photo shows the Harry Nice Bridge, which carries U.S. 301 over the Potomac River between Virginia and Maryland. Usually the Office of the Attorney General represents state agencies. John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway 1 Turnpike Dr. Perryville, MD 21903 October 12, 2022, The Gov. The former senator, who has been invited to attend Wednesdays ribbon-cutting, said hes not surprised the judge rejected the bike groups request for a temporary restraining order. The Bay Bridge discount plan cycle begins when first used and ends after 45 days or when all trips are used, whichever comes first. Boardman quoted from the letter and raised the issue several times during the hearing. Local leaders in Charles County previously concluded they couldnt manage the cost of maintaining the bridge, and the transportation authority plans to demolish it, using the debris to build a fish reef. Gov. Boardman also found that keeping the Nice Bridge in place might pose a risk to the new bridge because of the erosion that the old bridges foundations could cause. Harry W. Nice and former state Sen. Thomas "Mac" Middleton, carries Route 301 traffic over the Potomac River between Newburg, Md., and King George County, Va. Maryland added Middleton's name to the bridge after he sponsored legislation requiring that a replacement be built. At the Potomac bridge, initial plans called for a separated bike and pedestrian crossing a feature Hogan highlighted in the 2016 announcement but the idea was abandoned in 2019 as a cost-savings measure. Virginia contributed $13 million to the Maryland Transportation Authority project to widen and align Route 301 with the new bridge. If the account is linked to a credit card, the toll is charged to the card each time your vehicle crosses a bridge. E-ZPass Tag toll $3.00 cash toll $8.00; Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge: E-ZPass Tag toll $4.50 cash toll $6.00; William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge: E-ZPass . You may change your plans at any time. This is completely unsafe, but even worse than that, its a lack of vision on the part of Maryland for multimodal transportation in the future, he said. At the Nice Bridge, it was a 90-cent reduction for southbound cars from $5.40 to $4.50. With no signs of movement on the loan application, a manager at the contractor building the bridge wrote to the toll authority in January to make sure the company would still get paid. Visiting one of our Customer Service Centers; Contact us through the contact form on this website; Call the Customer Information Center at 1-888-321-6824; If MDTA determines that you are not responsible for the Video Toll transaction, the Video Toll will be dismissed and you will be notified by mail. Fast, informative and written just for locals. Now, theres nothing wrong with drivers paying less for bridges, roads and tunnels but its no great accomplishment to simply push maintenance and replacement costs down the proverbial road. [24] One of the major redesign choices was the removal of the multi-use path for pedestrians and bicycles, citing low projected usage; in its stead, Will Pines, chief engineer of the MDTA, states that the bridge will be open for cyclists to share the lane with motor vehicles, similar to the present arrangement on the Thomas J. Hatem Bridge on US 40. Fort McHenry Tunnel 3990 Leland Avenue Baltimore, MD 21224. Contact Editor Sarah Vogelsong for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Based on some conversations here in California, I think we might need [to] get a put our foot down letter drafted, Slater wrote in an email. It could not be learned on Tuesday why the authority hired outside counsel to defend itself against the cycling groups or how much the law firm, Venable, will charge for its services. I find this app a good way to track my tolls and manage my budget. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The new bridge design also includes more than $2 million in features to. Service centers are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. #12. jazz lady said: The toll booths have all been removed from the Bay Bridge, so cash is no longer an option. But the bulk of federal highway money is passed to states with few conditions on how it is spent. Potomac River Bridge Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge Approximate latitude, longitude +38.36251, -76.99060 (decimal degrees) 3821'45" N, 7659'26" W (degreesminutes'seconds") Approximate UTM coordinates 18/326085/4247913 (zone/easting/northing) Quadrangle map: Dahlgren Average daily traffic (as of 2017) 17,933 Inventory number The cycle begins on the date of the first toll transaction and runs for thirty (30) days thereafter. [17] The MDTA estimated the cost of a replacement span at about $850 million, but funding was not identified as of 2012. 5 and Rt. Ride with me across the Gov. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Cost per cycle: $35.00 for up to 25 trips, Cost per cycle: $20.00 for up to 10 trips, Cost per cycle: $52.50 for up to 25 trips, Cost: $20.00 per year for unlimited trips. Click here to sign up for a Hatem Choice A E-ZPass account. The agency had already spent $1 million on the application process, Ports wrote, and failure to close the loan would mean that public funds would be wasted.. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Learn more about how we use cookies by reviewing our privacy policy, Saved our day when we were on a trip and had to take a toll road on our way home. There are no fees to open a FasTrak account, get a toll tag, or use it to pay your tolls.*. Md. Construction began in July 2020. With an Uproad app account, you'll pay tolls as you go with your mobile phone. In response to the bridge's traffic issues, the Maryland Transportation Authority initiated the Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge Improvement Project in June 2006,[8] which would contemplate improvement of bridge traffic either by widening the bridge or by replacing it altogether. Meanwhile, a federal judge Tuesday rejected a plea from bike and trail advocates to save a parallel bridge from demolition. The Mercury brings you coverage of the commonwealth's biggest issues from a team of veteran Virginia journalists. - On October 12, Governor Larry Hogan [R] visited the new Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial/Senator Thomas Middleton Bridge for a ribbon-cutting . To achieve those goals, the federal agency must work with states that sometimes have other priorities and typically have the final say. Florida's toll roads are 734 miles long, including bridges, making the state a leader in this segment. Theres evidence the old bridge has to go, she said. She also questioned whether the groups had standing to bring a lawsuit. On the Harry Nice Bridge TWO CAMERAS: US Route 301 / Harry Nice Bridge on the Virginia Side: Archives. Originally called the Potomac River Bridge, it was renamed in April 1968. Bruce DePuyt spent nearly three decades on local television, including 14 years as executive producer and host of News Talk on NewsChannel 8 in the Washington, D.C., area. Passport wait times are up again. Texas is the leader in the number of highways that require tolls, but the reason for this is the fairly low gasoline taxes, which require additional funding to build, maintain, and repair highways. Boardman also concluded that granting an injunction would only delay the bridges demolition. Restoring the old bridge would also be extremely expensive, and no local governments were willing to take on the cost. For 81 years, the Harry W. Nice Memorial/Senator Thomas "Mac" Middleton Bridge has provided a crucial highway link between Southern Maryland and Virginia. In an emailed statement, the Maryland Transportation Authority thanked Boardman for the decision. Nonprofit. When pressed by the judge on Thursday on the timeframe, state officials said the new bridge "is ready to open to traffic on Oct. 12, 2022, and that demolition of the Nice Bridge would begin in . The plans ends after 45 days or when all of the trips are used, whichever comes first. on track to demolish old Nice Bridge", "Cyclist groups seek to delay demolition of old Nice Bridge over Potomac", New Nice Middleton Bridge Project - Official website, MdTA: Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge - Description (in PDF format), MdTA: Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge - Improvement Project, U.S. 301 Waldorf Area Transportation Improvements Project website, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Governor_Harry_W._Nice_Memorial_Bridge&oldid=1131765011, Continuous truss bridges in the United States, Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System, Transportation buildings and structures in Charles County, Maryland, Buildings and structures in King George County, Virginia, Transportation in King George County, Virginia, Short description is different from Wikidata, Infobox mapframe without OSM relation ID on Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Our firm seeks new relationships with teaming partners to provide state of the art support in a strong, but niche market. Includes savings on 3 and 4 axle tolls at the Hatem Bridge. In court papers filed Saturday, lawyers for the state said the advocacy groups plans for the old bridge wouldnt come to fruition. The administration believes the toll rates are consistent with what is charged in Northern Virginia. NEWBURG, Md. US 301 at Md. The Post-Usage Plan adds a discount to business accounts based on all transponders assigned to five (5) or more axle vehicles that are used at eligible facilities.

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