Background

The Intercounty Connector (ICC) is a 18.9 mile, $3.1 billion interstate-scale TOLL road first proposed in 1950s. The ICC is planned to run through Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland connecting I-270 (in Gaithersburg) and Route 1 (in Laurel). Federal environmental agencies rejected the ICC twice - in the 1980s and 1990s - because the ICC would severly damage or destroy parks and communities, forests, wetlands and streams. The ICC would be a part of Washington Outer Beltway, which would destroy more nature, pose more health impacts on human and wildlife, and increase more CO2 from transportation.

A study that compared 6 alternatives (conducted by Norm Marshall and Brian Grady of Smart Mobility, Inc. Released in January 2005) says, "The alternatives studied in this report would allow less time spent in cars, remove traffic from local roads, and result in lower air emissions compared to the ICC. The report, The Intercounty Connector: Performance and Alternatives, shows that there are ways to improve travel in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties without an ICC and with a lower cost."

The ICC is exerting so much pressure on Maryland's finances that the Maryland Transportation Authority plans to raise tolls sharply on every toll facility in the state to help pay for it.

For the story, visit: Commuters likely to face higher tolls, The Examiner    

Highway construction costs have risen by roughly 50 percent since January 2005.  The Federal Highway Trust Fund is expected to be bankrupt by Fiscal Year 2009, and the feds have rescinded more than $200 million from Maryland over the past three years. And oil closed at more than $100 per barrel in February 2008, four  times higher than in 2002 when former Governor Ehrlich declared his intent to build the ICC.

It's time to pull the plug on this multi-billion-dollar boondoggle and invest in transportation priorities that reduce oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The ICC would trigger more than 700 million miles of new driving per year.

 

Support anti-ICC Bills

1. HB 1471 -- Bill to Defund the ICC

Sponsored by Delegate Barbara Frush, this bill repeals the ICC funding package passed by the General Assembly in 2005. In doing so, it would liberate more than $2 billion in state and federal funding and in state debt capacity. 

Forty delegates have co-sponsored this bill so far, and we expect to have the bill number soon.

We expect this bill to be assigned to the House Appropriations Committee, where several Montgomery County delegates will play key roles.

Delegate Bill Bronrott (D-District 16 in Montgomery County) serves on the Appropriations Transportation Sub-committee, where this bill is expected to land first.

ICC Financing Bill Co-sponsors:
Barnes, Beidle, Bobo, Bromwell, Cardin, Carr, Carter, V. Clagett, Conaway, Dwyer, Gutierrez, Healey, Heller, Holmes, Hubbard, Hucker, Impallaria, Ivey, Kaiser, Kipke, Lafferty, Montgomery, Nathan-Pulliam, Niemann, Oaks, Olszewski, Pena-Melnyk, Ramirez, Robinson, Ross, Schuh, Schuler, Stein, Stukes, Tarrant, F. Turner, V. Turner, Valderrama, Vaughn

You can track HB 1471 and download an official copy at:
http://mlis.state.md.us/2008rs/billfile/HB1471.htm


2. HB 1416 -- Bill to Require the State to Assess and Disclose the ICC's Cumulative Greenhouse Gas Impacts

Sponsored by Delegate Dana Stein, HB 1416 prohibits further debt issuance and further expenditures on the ICC until the State completes a full assessment of the greenhouse gas impacts that would result from traffic on the ICC and other local roads, from the sprawl the ICC would trigger, and from the loss of forests to the ICC and related sprawl.

The bill also requires the agencies to hold hearings on their findings then report to the Governor and the General Assembly by December 1.

You can track HB 1416 and download an official copy at:
http://mlis.state.md.us/2008rs/billfile/HB1416.htm

This bill has been assigned to Environmental Matters, where we expect strong support. It is an especially important piece of legislation because transportation eportedly generates nearly 40 percent of Maryland emissions of global warming pollution. Transportation might may be the fastest growing source in the state, and is expected to be the dominant source within 15 to 20 years.

The Bush and Ehrlich administrations refused to assess the ICC climate impacts in their 2006 ICC Environmental Impact Statement.
 
HB 1416 Co-sponsors:
Ali, Barnes, Bobo, Bromwell, Cane, Carter, V. Clagett, Frush, Gutierrez, Healey, Holmes, Hubbard, Hucker, Kaiser, Kipke, Lafferty, Malone, McConkey, Mizeur, Montgomery, Niemann, Olszewski, Pena-Melnyk, Schuh, Schuler, Tarrant, F. Turner


3. Bill to Require the State to Assess and Disclose the Cumulative Public Health Impacts of Air Pollution from the ICC and Other Local Roads

This bill prohibits further debt issuance and further expenditures on the ICC until the State completes a full assessment of the public health impacts of air pollution from the ICC and other local roads and highways.

 

Make a Call to/Write a Letter to Your Elected Officials

Lend your voice to this effort and help Maryland become a cleaner, healthier place to live. Write a letter/Call your elected officials today!

 

Map of Proposed ICC

 

Why Is the ICC Bad?

Ten Good Reasons to Stop the ICC
(Taken from Sierra Club website and shortened...to see the original full description, visit here)

1. The ICC..... It's Climate Change

State and federal studies show the ICC would sharply increase automobile use, trigger thousands of acres of new sprawl development, and increase air pollutant emissions.

2. Maryland's Own Big Dig -- The $3 billion Boondoggle

The ICC would cost more than $ 3 billion -- nearly $180 million per mile -- and might be the most expensive transportation project in Maryland's history.

3. That Giant Sucking Sound.. and a Mountain of Debt

In additon to draining $265 million from Maryland's General Fund and $180 million from our Transportation Trust Fund, the ICC would saddle the state with massive, potentially risky public debt. The Maryland Department of Transportaiton (MDOT) plans to mortgage our transportation future issuing almost $2 billion in public debt for the ICC, with nearly $1 billion in interest to be paid on that debt. The ICC bonds would leave the state at 93% of its legal debt capacity and jeopardize Maryland's ability to invest in schools and other capital projects.

4. The ICC..... That's All Folks!

Building the ICC would also jeopardize Maryland's ability to afford essential road and bridge maintenance and urgent needed transit project such as the Purple Line in Montgomery and Prince George's counties, the Red and Green lines in Baltimore City, the Corridor Cities Transitway in Montgomery County and others.

5. Another Nail in the Bay's Coffin

The ICC would devastate the headwaters of the Rock Creek and the Anacostia River, and would deeply undermine decades-long efforts to restore the Anacostia, the lower Potomac and the Chesapeake Bay.

6. Speaking of Coughin' ..... When You Can't Breathe

The ICC poses a grave threat to public health.

7. Less Damaging, Less Expensive Alternatives Exist

In the past six years, an agency study and, more recently, non-profit and environmental and transportation groups have shown that alternatives that reduce sprawl, balance jobs and housing, and improve public transit would provide more transportation choices to more people, and meet many of the region's transportation needs as well as or better than the ICC and Outer Beltway.

8. A Developer Boondoggle and a Toll Truckway That Few Commuters Could Afford

MDOT plans to build the ICC as a toll road, and currently estimates that a commuter making a full round-trip would pay more than $7 each day to use the ICC. That translates to nearly $2000 per year.

9.Deepening the Divide in a Region Already Divided

A Region Divided, published by the Brookings Institution, found that high-paying jobs and public investments have tended to go to the Washington region's suburbs and to areas in the region's western half, short-changing communities in the District of Columbia (especially in the eastern part of the city), the inner suburbs and Prince George's County. The ICC and the Outer Beltway would widen this regional divide, forcing residents of the region's east to continue making long auto commutes to the I-270 and Dulles corridors.

10. The Bush & Ehrlich Admininstrations Violated Many Environmental Laws

In refusing to consider less damaging alternatives and to assess the ICC's full impact, the Bush and Ehrlich administrations violated numerous state and federal environmental and public health laws. They also denied the public, the directly threatened communities, and elected officials their rights to have a fully informed say on this destructive, wasteful project.