$1 Billion Highway Drives Maryland Sprawl

Proposal and Savings
Reject the proposed Inter-County Connector (ICC). Estimated project costs are $1.1 billion — 80 percent federally funded.

Background
The ICC is a proposed 18-mile highway of between 6 and 12 lanes running from I-270 near Gaithersburg, Maryland to U.S. Route 1 near Laurel, Maryland.

Status
Since the publication of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) in 1997, local, state and federal decision-makers have criticized the ICC. In 1997, the Montgomery County Planning Board refused to endorse any of the official ICC routes. The County Council recommended a "Network of Improvements," which would still include major road construction. In March 1998, Governor Parris Glendening established a new Transportation Solutions Group (TSG) to take a "fresh look" at the options. The TSG will issue recommendations in July 1999. Meanwhile, the Consolidated Transportation Program for Maryland includes at least $27 million for ICC right-of-way acquisition over the next six years. The State Highway Administration has spent roughly $19 million purchasing rights-of-way since July 1998.

Problems with the project

Taxpayer Concerns
The ICC would cost over $1 billion to build, not including the widening of local roads into feeder roads. It would also trigger suburban sprawl, forcing taxpayers to pay for expensive new infrastructure and services.

Local Community Concerns
The ICC would destroy dozens of homes and devalue thousands of others. It would cut through dozens of communities, bringing air and water pollution, noise, and increased congestion. The ICC would be part of a sprawling "spider web" of highways around Washington, D.C. According to the DEIS, the ICC would serve less than 10 percent of area commuters and actually increase congestion on main commuter routes.

Environmental Concerns
The ICC would destroy some of the region’s finest remaining forests and wetlands, with clearcuts across numerous creeks and watersheds. The ICC threatens at least 24 rare plant species, trees that pre-date the Civil War, and fast-disappearing wildlife habitat, including forest habitat for many migratory song bird species. The toxic run-off, air pollution, and destruction of forests and wetlands caused by the ICC would undermine regional efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay, and the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers. Indirect impacts will further harm the region’s air quality by triggering sprawl and encouraging increased automobile traffic.

Contacts
Lois Sherman, Montgomery ICC Coalition, (301) 384-8071, micclois@aol.com ; Greg Smith, Campaign to Stop the ICC, (301) 309-2362; David Hirsch, Friends of the Earth, (202) 783-7400 (x215), hirsch@foe.org ; Neal Fitzpatrick, Audubon Naturalist Society, (301) 652-9188 (x3032), www.igc.org/icc370 .

Waldorf Bypass
Southern Maryland
363 million

Project Revives Part of Rejected Eastern Bypass

Proposal and savings
Reject funding for the proposed Waldorf Bypass and consider cheaper alternatives. Total project costs are around $454 million — 80 percent federally funded.

Background
The Waldorf Bypass is part of a larger upgrade of U.S. Route 301. The Bypass would begin in Prince George’s County, Maryland at Brandywine and would rejoin Route 301 above La Plata in Charles County. Waldorf, Maryland is dominated by bedroom communities and a regional mall, served by an overburdened Route 301. In 1990, state governments pushed for bypasses on the eastern and western sides of Washington, D.C. These would, together with other projects under consideration, constitute an Outer Beltway. These bypass proposals were defeated by overwhelming citizen opposition. However, government and business advocates returned a few years later with a segmented approach toward the same goal. The Waldorf Bypass would be a new road alignment essentially equivalent to the Eastern Bypass proposed in 1990.

Status
The Environmental Impact Statement process cannot begin until the Charles County Commissioners choose whether to upgrade existing Route 301 or build the Bypass.

Problems with the project

Taxpayer Concerns
It would be cheaper to improve conditions by enhanced planning, making safety and access improvements on the current alignment, and by building overpasses at congested major intersections for through traffic.

Local Community Concerns
While advocates of a new highway alignment publicly state that the purpose of the Bypass is to alleviate local traffic, its true function would be the same as the previously rejected Eastern Bypass: to alleviate traffic in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. If the Waldorf Bypass were built, Waldorf would suffer disinvestment in its urban core. This new highway proposal would spur growth and pull tens of thousands of jobs from Washington D.C. and its inner suburbs, replacing forest and farmland with new subdivisions.

Environmental Concerns
The Waldorf Bypass would significantly affect the Mattawoman and Port Tobacco Creeks and Pages Swamp. The Mattawoman is already under great development pressure, and it is the most productive spawning creek in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay system.The highway would also accelerate sprawl in Southern Maryland, which is projected to receive 40 percent of Maryland’s growth in the next 20 years. The sensitive nature of Southern Maryland’s productive wetlands, steep slopes and erosion prone soils make it doubtful that the area would be able to support this large portion of projected growth.

Contacts
Bonnie Bick, Sierra Club Southern Maryland Group, (301) 283-2948, foma@radix.net ; Amy Freise, Citizens Against the Waldorf Bypass, (301) 932-3120.

U.S. Route 219
Maryland
240 million

Economic Benefits Are Questionable

Proposal and Savings
Deny funding for the proposed expansion of U.S. Route 219. This project will cost approximately $300 million — 80 percent federally funded.

Background
The proposal calls for either extending the current U.S. Route 219 through Garrett County, Maryland in compliance with four-lane interstate standards, or creating a parallel highway that would run through the mountains. It is intended that this proposed 36-mile highway be incorporated into a larger project, known as Continental One which, if built, would run from Toronto to Miami. Since the area has the highest unemployment rate in Maryland, local proponents justify the highway as a tool for economic growth.

Status
The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) included $700 million for the entire Continental One corridor.

Problems with the project

Taxpayer Concerns
Garrett County’s economic problems have not been linked to the lack of such roadway expansion, nor has it been proven that the building of such a roadway would increase jobs. I-68, which runs east-west through the northern part of Garrett County, was built in 1987 with similar economic justifications and little development has resulted. The Continental One highway may never be built, and would not be completed until approximately 2019. Thus, any short-term economic benefits would have to be regional rather than a result of the section’s place in Continental One corridor.

Local Community Concerns
Opponents of the proposed roadway seek to preserve the rural area of Garrett County that currently provides escape from the noise, traffic and pollution that an expanded highway would bring. This project would destroy valuable homes and businesses in the Oakland (the county seat) and McHenry (Deep Creek Lake) areas. It would ruin family farms, at least one of which has been in the family since before the Civil War.

Environmental concerns
The expansion of U.S. Route 219 would negatively impact the Mount Nebo Wildlife Management Area, which has been identified as an ecologically sensitive habitat, as well as the Garrett State Forest. In addition, the Youghiogheny River, designated by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as a state scenic river, and several of its tributaries are located in the project area. Many of the waterways in this system have been designated as Use III Natural Trout Streams. These rivers support diverse fish populations including Blacknose Dace, Creek and River Chub, Rock Bass, Johnny and Fantail Darter, Mottled Sculpin and Pumpkinseed Sunfish.

Contacts
George Falter, Conservative Action for a Rural Environment (C.A.R.E.), (301) 387-2544; Dick Friend, C.A.R.E., (301) 387-4302.