Lockheed wins Maryland

Maryland government announced Nov 22 that it is awarding a contract to Lockheed Martin IMS to develop, install, maintain and provide customer services for the state's first electronic toll collection system. The contract of $22m covers installation of Mark IV reader and transponder equipment similar to that in neighboring Virginia to the south and in states to the north. 50 lanes are to be equipped for e-tolling at three Baltimore Harbor crossings — the Fort McHenry (I-95) and Harbor (I-895) tunnels close to Baltimore and the Francis Scott Key bridge which carries the Baltimore beltway (I-695) at its least trafficked point. The 2.5km McHenry Tunnel is 8-lanes wide and carries approx 100,000 vehicles/day. The older 4-lane Harbor Tunnel carries 55,000v/d and the I-695 bridge 25,000v/d. Also to be converted to e-tolling will be I-95 at the toll plaza near the Delaware border (70,000v/d). At a later date the Maryland Transportation Authority, the state toll agency, plans to take e-tolls onto the Chesapeake Bay bridge — a 55,000 veh/day 7km long 5-lane dual suspension bridge near Annapolis that is the major link for vacationers from the Washington and Baltimore metro area to the eastern shore peninsula of Maryland and the Atlantic Ocean coast. Small toll bridges over the lower Potomac on US-301 (Newburg MD to Dahlgren VA, 14,000v/d) and the US-40 bridge over the Susquehana River at Havre de Grace (22,000v/d) will probably get e-toll equipment last.

The harbor crossings e-toll equipment is due to be operational by the end of 1997, according to Lockheed. It says it will use software developed for e-tolling on the GA-400 toll road, which successfully tolls motorists at highway speed in dedicated lanes. It expects to process 120,000 tolls/day. The contract provides for Lockheed to establish and operate for 3 years a customer service center to issue e-tags to motorists. Alphatech of Burlington MA will supply a license plate camera system for enforcement at all e-toll lanes.

Lockheed also runs e-tolling for the TCA on its toll roads in Orange Co California and runs customer service for the New York State Thruway and California's state toll bridges. It is doing system integration for the Port Authority of e-toll equipment on 3 Hudson River Crossings (the Lincoln and Holland tunnels and the George Washington bridge) and 3 smaller bridges between New York and New Jersey. It has also played a leading role in heavy truck weigh and inspection clearance using e-tags. The parent company has its head office in Bethesda Maryland but the e-toll division is run out of Teaneck NJ. MdTA owner of the toll crossings collects $130m/yr in tolls, spends about $85m on running costs and $16m in interest payments on its debt. (Contact Lockheed 201 996 7052, MdTA 410 288 8407)