ICC

May 23, 2007

Ask Governor O'Malley for a TIME OUT on the ICC

CALL OR FAX THE GOVERNOR TODAY!!!

Send a message to Governor O'Malley and urge him to take a time out on the Intercounty  Connector. Send a personal fax or e-mail or call the toll-free number below.

• Toll-free Phone: 800-811-8336       
• Fax: 410-974-3275
• E-mail: governor@gov.state.md.us

WHAT TO SAY:

• The State should reconsider its transportation priorities and step back on the ICC. We need to fund much-needed transit projects, not expensive road projects that won't relieve traffic. We shouldn't be allowing the Ehrlich administration's decision on the ICC to dictate transportation priorities.
• Ask the Governor to remember his campaign pledges: he focused on working families, but how can they afford the $7 daily tolls? He focused on cleaning up the Bay and combating global warming but the State's own study finds that the ICC would increase car travel and therefore global warming pollution, while destroying over 5,000 acres of forest, wetlands and open space.
• Don't forget to include your name and address!

In Thursday’s Washington Post

O'Malley Is Asked to Reconsider Intercounty Connector

Thirty-four Maryland lawmakers released a letter yesterday asking Gov. Martin O'Malley to reconsider his support of the planned intercounty connector that would cut across Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

The group, which includes 20 members of the Montgomery and Prince George's delegations, argued that the project should be reevaluated given the state's bleak budget outlook and the debt the state would incur on the $2.4 billion project.

"With this letter, we are requesting that, at the very least, the state take a 'breather' on the ICC, until you have undertaken a detailed review of and discussion about all our transportation priorities, their times, costs and financing," the letter says. "The timing is precisely right for this time-out."

O'Malley (D), who took office in January, has no intention of reversing course, his spokesman, Rick Abbruzzese, said yesterday.

"The governor supports the ICC and feels it's time to move forward with the project, as evidenced by the first contract being awarded this week," Abbruzzese said.

Abbruzzese was referring to a $478.7 million contract for the first phase of the highway, from Interstate 370 to Georgia Avenue, which is scheduled to open in late 2010. The entire 18-mile toll highway is scheduled for completion by 2012.

Yesterday, a third lawsuit was filed by project opponents, this one by a homeowners association challenging the economic feasibility of the road. Members of the Shady Grove Woods Homeowners Association, which filed suit in state court in Rockville, own property in condemnation proceedings for the highway.

-- John Wagner and Eric Weiss

Baltimore Sun: Report warns against the ICC
Building D.C.-area road could hurt Md. effort to fight congestion elsewhere, group says