ICC to be started this fall

[javasaurus]

Well, after 56 years, for good or ill, the Maryland's controversial Intercounty Connector highway is scheduled for construction starting this fall.

WTOP news article on the ICC

Comments

[rsteachout.livejournal.com]

'bout effin time. Glendenning should be shot, if for no other reason than the extra +8 years delay he caused on this long-overdue project. In the meantime, 10s of thousands of vehicles each week trying to get from East P.G. county and points eastward to N. Montgomery county had to drive an additional 35 to 45 miles each way (polluting all the way). No wonder the northern section of the beltway is the worst conjested portion.

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

This is a project about which I'm securely on the fence. Certainly the ICC wil help many commuters, at least for a while. But I'm not sure you can blame Glendenning any more than you can praise Ehrlich for this project. Certainly statements such as "Glendinning should be shot" are a bit overboard, considering the project has been debated for 56 years.

Regarding traffic in the area you mention, most of it is not, as you suggest, going to be relieved by the ICC. I travelled that stretch for four years (my work location recently changed, so now I don't hit the worst of it). Most of the congestion let up at Georgia Avenue, heading SOUTH, into the city. The backup is due in large part to traffic lights on Georgia Ave., not people taking 95 or the BW Parkway south, going around the beltway, then going north again on 355 or 270.

[rsteachout.livejournal.com]

Certainly statements such as "Glendinning should be shot" are a bit overboard, considering the project has been debated for 56 years.

Yes, I'm aware it's hyperbole, but reflective of my extreme dislike of the former governor, for his actions against the ICC among many, many other things. Obviously, I wouldn't condone really having him shot.

The majority of the backup is caused by the D.C.-bound traffic; however, as a longtime resident of A.A. County, who many times has had to add the unnecessary time and gas to go South, then West, and than North and turn a 30 mile trip as the crow flies into a 70 mile trip, I sick of the delays on this project. There literally is no way for us to just "go West" to get to Montgomery County, especially the Gaithersburg area.

I don't blame Glendenning for *all* the delays; just the 8 years of delay caused because he specifically and intentionally refused to fund the final studies or do anything else that would move the project forward. He even made several press announcements about deliberately blocking it. As a result, a much-needed corridor that would save money for citizens, reduce auto emission pollution, increase commerce and would have been nearing completion, is just now getting started.