Howard County Blog

A Blog on what is going on in Howard County

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Intercounty Connector

The Washington Post published this map of the approved route for the ICC yesterday. What do you think of it?

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

The ICC is a complex issue and deserves a sophisticated responce, so in this spirit I will bracket my primal disgust at the project and all its boondoggling, sprawl-encouraging, money wasting, resource squandering, wetland destroying goodness with an attempt at a "fair and balanced" view.

As far as the route is concerned, I do prefer this chosen one over the other options presented. It seems to avoid more forest and streambeds than the former routes. It does, however, seem to travel directly through some existing housing developments. I have to wonder who is being kicked out of their homes so that suburban commuters can have a quicker trip to work.

Is there unjust enrichment taking place?

I am reminded of the failed I-170 that "unintentionally" destroyed West Baltimore. Google it if you are unfamiliar, its quite a harrowing anecdote.

All of this unconfirmed suspicion aside, if it gets us a Metro stop near Laurel -which it seems nicely positioned to do- then I am a slight bit more welcoming to the project. One step closer to getting DC-BWI-Balitmore corridor metro service!

Of course, if Baltimore would get its act together and build a decent metro system... >sigh<

...This brings me to the larger issue: Real ALTERNATIVES to traffic.

A rapid, efficent metro or lightrail system, supplimented by busses and trolleys throughout the B/W area would do far more to improve the economy, reduce traffic congestion and pollution from cars, and lessen petrol dependence than this government handout to auto-oil-highway barons.

And it would serve the whole tax-paying population, not just those privledged enough to afford automobiles.

Let me also mention the profound opposition I feel towards the ICC as a Toll road. 7-10$ for a round trip from Columbia to Rockville! Just to pay for this several million dollar mistake!!

If anything this will drive up the cost of transporting goods, and subsequently of purchasing them while making the Beltway even more congested with drivers trying to skirt the tolls. This is an all-around BAD Idea.

Come on, Maryland. We can do better than this. We are a creative, intelligent, and innovative population. Lets put together a transportation plan deserving of our fine state. And to start, lets get some competent leadership.


So, to sum up: ICC = stupid; transit = smart. Erlich = a tool.

Was that not fair and balanced?

4:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'll go with primal - Cann you say environmental disaster?

9:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

1. The many environmental impacts are way too steep.
2. We get to pay for it twice - once to build it and once to drive on it since it will have Lexu$ Lane$.
3. Taking I-95 to D.C. will just get all the worse.
4. It's the wrong solution.

21st century clean, safe, economical, fast, quiet advanced public transit systems are the answer. Such a system can be found here. What do you think of that?

The ICC just continues applying 19th century technology, albeit an early-20th century limited access highway version (borrowed by Eisenhower from the pre-WWII Autobahn). At this point, it seems pretty dumb to keep burning imported CO2-laden fossil fuels to get around (or idle in traffic), doesn't it?

1:13 AM  
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12:29 AM  

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