The ICC is a proposed 18.9 mile, $3 billion interstate-scale TOLL road stretching across Montgomery County from I-270 near Gaithersburg and ending two miles into Prince George's County at Rte. 1 in Laurel. The ICC would be six to eight lanes wide where it cuts communities in half and 10 to 12 lanes wide near interchanges with other roads. It would also be part of a sprawling, destructive Outer Beltway that the highway agencies are trying to build piece by piece. Federal environmental agencies rejected the ICC twice - in the 1980s and 1990s - because it would severely damage or destroy parks and communities, forests, wetlands and streams. From 2003 to 2006, the Bush and Ehrlich administrations wasted $30 million ramming the ICC through a deeply flawed, fast-tracked environmental review. Governor O'Malley now has the chance to kill the ICC and lead Maryland towards sustainable transportation and development.

Here are 10 Good Reasons why the ICC should be killed.

The ICC Boondoggle

The ICC would cost at least $3.1 billion, according to a recent estimate by the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT). MDOT intends, through the Maryland Transportation Authority (MdTa), to incur almost $2 billion in public debt over the next several years to build the ICC. Interest on that debt could easily exceed $700 milion. The ICC's huge cost and its impact on Maryland'd ability to invest in other transportation priorities is a point of increasing concern, even assuming that MDOT's cost and revenue assumptions are reliable.

The question is less whether Maryland can pay for the ICC, but whether we would be able to afford much else after spending more than $3 billion on the ICC.

Learn more about the True Direct Cost of Building the ICC......

The ICC: Climate Change

Cars, trucks and other vehicles generate roughly one-third of the greenhouse gases in the United States, and may be our fastest growing source of global warming air pollution. We must cut greenhouse gas emissions sharply and soon if we are to ward off global warming's worst consequences. We have perhaps 10 years to take serious action and put ourselves on the path to reducing global warming emissions worldwide by 50 to 80 persent by 2050. These reductions must come from all sectors - including transportation - and technolog alone cannot do the job.

Global warming emissions triggered by the ICC would probably wipe out much of the emissions reductions that might be achieved in Montgomery County under the Clean Cars Act recently signed into law by Governor O'Malley.

Learn more about the ICC and Climate Change .....

The ICC: Environmental Destruction 

• The ICC is an environmental chainsaw. Singlehandedly, it would result in the clear-cuitting of nearly 1000 acres of mature forest, much of it in stream valley parks and in the headwaters of the Anacostia River and Rock Creek which contain some of the healthiest streams in the region.
• The State's ICC storm water plans are designed, at best, to handle only the first 1.5" of rain storms. Towns downstream of the ICC, already prone to flooding because of storm water burdens from upstream, would see more frequent and increased flooding.
• The ICC would lead to 5000 - 20,000 acres of sprawl development, increasing run-off and sedimentation.
• The increased sprawl would result in even more vehicular traffic, thwarting our efforts to contain greenhouse gas emissions and tackle global warming.
• By the State Highway Administration's own studies, the ICC would not relieve congestion on the Beltway, I-95, I-270 or most local roads.

Read more: a recent study on negative effects of the ICC and on better alternatives (scroll down)...

Transportation and Development Fairness

Highways induce and shift development. The ICC development corridor would largely be in Montgomery County, with sprawl also being triggered farther out in the region's radial corridors, shifting jobs and resources away from the inner core of Prince George's County. Moving development and resources away from Prince George's county would only widen the economic divide that is the subject of the 1999 Brookings Institute study titled A Region Divided. Large transportation investments must work to address this equity issue, not only for the sake of Prince George's County, but for the well-being of the entire Washington Metropolitan Region.

Our state has many un-met transporation needs and each county and local municipality has a list of projects which remain unfunded. Base Re-alignment And Closure (BRAC) which will move several tens of thousands of military personnel and their families into Maryland spawns additional infrastructure needs. The Purple Line, Baltimore's Red Line, Rail across the Wilson Bridge, the Corridor Cities Transitway are all transit projects which will serve a broad need. By contrast, the ICC would serve a narrow interest in Montgomery County and moves development in ways that are not in the long-term interests of our state.

Let's put our money where our needs are.

But I thought the ICC was a done deal....

Delegates/Senators ask O'Malley for a Time-Out

During the last legislative session, 35 delegates and senators, from five counties and Baltimore City, including 9 from Montgomery County, 12 from Prince George's County, wrote to Governor O'Malley urging him, in the light of the lawsuits and the deepening fiscal crisis facing Maryland, to call a complete time out on the ICC, to stop taking people's homes and land, and to reassess Maryland's transportation priorities.

County Council Opposition

• In 2003, the Prince George's County Council passes a unanimous 9-0 resolution in opposition to the ICC  

Local Municipality Opposition

• The cities of College Park and Greenbelt have long opposed the ICC.
• The towns of Edmonston and Colmar Manor recently passed resolutions against the ICC.
• Other municipalities in Prince George's County are in the process of considering and passing resolutions of their own against the ICC.
• Would you like to lobby and help your town or civic association to take a stand against the ICC? Click here for help.

Who Supports the ICC?

The ICC is pushed along by strong developer, construction and trucking interests.

Write and Call your Legislators and Governor O'Malley and ask then to defund THE ICC