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Speed cameras are being set up in the work zone between the MD-198 and 212 exits on the highway starting as early as midnight Thursday, the first day that a new state law allows the devices across Maryland.

Anyone going more than 77 mph – 12 miles above the posted 65 mph limit – could have their photo taken by cameras mounted on a white SUV in the zone and receive a $40 ticket in the future, said Neil Pedersen, the head of the State Highway Administration.

"This is the next major step in making work zones safer," Pedersen said at a press conference on a hill overlooking the site Wednesday. "We are ready to go live tomorrow."

The camera tickets will not carry a fine for the first 30 days, he said. The car will alternate catching southbound or northbound travelers.

The cameras will be placed along the cleared land where the new overpass is being built for the Intercounty Connector, a new highway connecting I-95 to I-270 in Gaithersburg. Work on the interchange is scheduled to continue through 2011.

Under the state law passed by the Maryland General Assembly this spring, counties, towns and the state can now post speed cameras in sensitive areas , such as school zones and construction areas to deter fast driving.

Maryland officials can only place the cameras on highway work zones, where at least eight workers have been killed in accidents since 1990. Local governments get to determine when and if they will use the cameras, which have been legal in Montgomery County since 2006.

The Prince George's County Council just introduced a bill to allow the cameras, which won't be set up until at least January, while the towns of New Carrollton, District Heights, Mount Rainier and Riverdale Park also are implementing plans to place the devices.

The state's cameras are being operated by Affiliated Computer Systems in Dallas, which is running the SUV with the cameras in a pilot program. The SUV will rotate between the Prince George's work zone and construction areas in Baltimore County. It can operate 24 hours a day.

Drivers will have ample notice of where the cameras are through signs and a digital trailer that shows drivers' speeds before they reach the site where vehicles will be photographed, Pedersen said.

"It will be very difficult for a motorist to realize that a speed enforcement area is not ahead,' he said. "Our goal is to be slowing the traffic down."

According to state highway data, roughly 195,000 cars a day travel the targeted stretch of I-95.

State officials are spending $1 million on the new program, which will be paid for through the $40 citations drivers receive if caught. Extra profits will go toward funding state police highway patrols, Pedersen said.

"But believe me, we'd be more than happy to lose money on this," he said.

The mobile camera vehicles use radar to track driver speeds and are capable of scanning all four lanes of the highway at once. Each photo will be reviewed by a police officer before it is sent to the owner's address, to make sure cars speeding alongside slower vehicles don't trigger the tickets.

Drivers seeking to dispute tickets can appeal the citations to Prince George's County District Court.

AAA Spokesman Lon Anderson said the cameras make sense at the site, since workers are in danger there. The motoring group fought in the legislature to restrict the cameras to school and work zones in the interest of public safety.

"It's a good choice for the first," he said. "We all know that everybody speeds on 95, and that police have given some latitude on it. But a work zone is different. There's going to be a lot of tickets, but these tickets will be for a good reason."

E-mail Daniel Valentine at dvalentine@gazette.net