May 29, 2008
Transit on Thursday: Not Down With ICC Edition
You might have missed it between the hot dogs and the pool parties and enjoying the warm weather, but Saturday's Post ran a front page story on the sad afterthoughts of Maryland's Intercounty Connector — a neighborhood that is literally being split, run over, and wiped from the land it sits on. The Connector, a massive multi-billion dollar project, has at last begun construction just a few miles away, and the Post does it's part to bring to light the destruction that the road is bringing to Derwood — people fighting to save their houses from demolition, some families being forcibly bought out of homes they've lived in for 50 years, other homes being vandalized and stolen from, even after having been boarded up.
But the unhappiness doesn't end with the article itself. In the comments for the article (which are now closed), many Maryland residents have a hard time even coming up with one benefit to the project, and they aren't alone. Anyone that's been following the developments of the ICC can attest that there's a laundry list of complaints: A high toll rate that hasn't even been released yet, although it is assumed to be close to 20 cents per mile (for a bland comparison, Pennsylvania's turnpike rate is six cents per mile). Environmental groups have been against the route from day one. In fact, pressure to preserve Rock Creek led to the diversion of the ICC through Derwood. Construction is just in the first of five stages. Gas is ever on the rise, and ICC's need to use more in construction is driving up costs, and tangentially, the road will drive more gasoline use by the commuters it will serve. Beltway traffic will likely increase due to the Connector. Not to mention the price tag for the project is easily going to top the $3 billion mark. (For reference, the Purple Line will cost around $1.8 billion.)
Let's be frank: the Intercounty Connector is about as good an excuse we can find to plug the development of rail over roads, and forcing folks to sell their homes is just the icing on the cake.
But what say you - where do you stand on the ICC? Is it doomed to be yet another congested road in a space already full of them? Or is there some magical silver lining that we've missed?
Photo by katyray
In More Optimistic Maryland News: WTOP reports that projected ridership for the Purple Line is now up 45 percent from the last measure, to 68,000 trips per day. This is a vital development, since a main part of the Federal Transit Administration's funding criteria is the amount of daily riders a project will attract. Additionally, the new line would possibly reduce vehicle trips in Bethesda, Silver Spring, and College Park by 17,000 per day. These are good numbers - which assuredly, as gas prices continue to rise, will grow more. Of course, if money spent on the above-mentioned ICC were even somewhat diverted to the Purple Line, the need for federal funding would likely be less of an issue.
Honey, I Shrunk the Number of Lanes: So, you just moved into a place on 15th Street, and things are looking good, eh? Well, hopefully you don't mind living on what DDOT is calling an "urban freeway." In order to slow down high speed traffic on largely residential streets, Adam Tuss reports that the agency wants to remove lanes from 15th along a ten block stretch. Options from the study were presented to the City Council on Wednesday, which included replacing lanes with bicycle-only and a dedicated turning lane. Traffic didn't get any worse with modest replacements, and in fact improved along U Street. No word on when any construction could occur, but we're totally in favor of it. More bike accolades, here we come!
Speaking of reducing lanes, you'll probably just want to stay away from the Capital Beltway near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge this weekend, as construction will be causing the closure of all but one lane for a significant stretch of road. The work will begin on Friday night and is scheduled to be completed by noon on Sunday. (Of course, if it rains, you'll likely see another reminder of this work next week.)
Engines and Cabooses: VRE needs more capital to run extra service, but has to wait on the dust to settle in Virginia's transportation funding fiasco... Can you answer these three "easy" driving tutorial questions? If not, you may be contributing to the area's poor driving acumen... Maryland set to investigate possible congestion tolling on 270 and the Beltway, but focusing "on mass transit and getting people to use that option.”... WMATA asked to use GGW's map, which we featured a few weeks ago.
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Honey, I Shrunk the Number of Lanes
Look out for the sequel: "Honey, I Blew Up Your Car"...coming soon to an urban freeway near you!!
ICC - bad bad bad bad bad. It will destroy part of my neighborhood, raze acres and acres of woodland, make the already congested area even more congested, increase the noise level from traffic exponentially (I can already hear traffic on 29 and 95), and will cost an already cash strapped state even more money. All so some fat ass self-righteous bastard (read: Kingdon Gould) can get the development he's always wanted - Konterra. There is no silver lining. It's all about money. Money that's going into the pocket of one sleazy, disgusting, cold-hearted man. Pity O'Malley turned out to be just as worthless as Bahama Bob Ehrlich.
I need to stop before I give myself a stroke...
This article was taylor made for the Post, stamped from the dough of suffering with a heartshaped cookie cutter. The people who would use the ICC wouldn't be using public transit anyway. They woudn't take Metro from Laurel to Rockville even if it was available with plush velour seats and free Starbucks and hot-and-cold running masseurs (with release).
This is what happens when you allow developers to build whatever they want whenever they want, regardless of impact on existing road and service infrastructure. Annapolis saw a pile of money in tax revenue coming their way, so they sold your birthright for a mess of pottage and now all Montgomery County has to show for it is the mess.
But there's plenty of blame to spread around the NIMBYs as well. Regardless of whether it's ICC or the Purple Line, they come out of the woodwork and piss and moan about how terrible growth is. They're living in some 1950s fantasy land where everybody drives the speed limit and nobody speaks Spanish. And they hold up construction for decades until the price of any solution quintuples. You know what? If you don't like roads or subway lines, move your ass to Saskatoon, ess the eff up, and get the eff out of our way.
And stay off my lawn.
oh my lord. konterra? he's basically named the development "swindle-land." nice. creative of him to change "con" to "kon." keeps it all looking legal, i guess.
Does the Post article even acknowledge that the Post endorsed the construction of the ICC?
Granted, they also endorsed Barry. And look how many papers that story ended up selling. Damn, they're a devious bunch.
The only benefit of the ICC I can even dimly imagine would be creating new traffic capacity for the proposed Konterra mega-mall (I think its supposed to be the biggest mall on the east coast once its built, exactly the kind of smart development this region needs) that's supposed to be built at the PG end of the ICC. Last I've heard, the Konterra developers have gotten some sort of ok from the powers that be. Also, apparently people who commute between Gaithersburg and Laurel think its cool. Basically, its good for enabling things we shouldn't really be doing anyway.
Otherwise, this post is pretty accurate in explaining why the ICC is straight garbage.
"This article was taylor made for the Post, stamped from the dough of suffering with a heartshaped cookie cutter."
As Reid notes, aside from Marc Fisher, the Post editorial staff has been consistently pro-ICC.
The ICC price tag, including financing, was estimated at near $3 billion in the 2003 study. Given the sharp spikes in the prices of fuel and concrete in the interim, I wouldn't be surprised to see the cost upwards of $4 billion when all is said and done. And the only benefit will be speedier travel for those willing to pay the toll between Rockville and Konterra/BWI, though at the additional cost of greater congestion on I-270, I-95, and I-495.
Wait, that Gould guy is descended from Jay Gould!?
Jesus, the unscrupulous bastard gene is strong in that family.
Having grown up in College Park/Hyattsville, I've been hearing about the ICC for the last 30+ years. Amazingly, somehow the area has managed to grow and thrive without it, effectively dismissing the arguments for it. I agree we need something to mitigate the congested mess that is College Park during rush hour, but the purple line could address a lot of that. I say no ICC - I'm proud that Maryland has managed its growth so much better than Virginia, where I think it's been discovered that one new highway begets another, and another, which only leads to more Applebee's.
It would seem that way Reid.
Konterra? That is a TERRIBLE name for a mall. OTH, it's a great name for an anti-depressant or stool softener.
People still go to malls? What a quaint old custom, not unlike balls, cotillions, serenades, and box socials.
I ain't having nothing to do with a place that ain't got both an Orange Julius and a Hickory Farms.
flapjack: sorry to hear that you're going to be negatively affected by the ICC. the damn thing should never have been allowed to be built. too bad. hopefully this will be the last huge freeway we see built in the area (though i guess we were saying that when the last big freeway was built)....
Why Maryland is building a road back to the 20th Century - which is exactly what the ICC is - is beyond me. Any and all new transportation projects in this region need to be mass transit: light rail, Metro, and the like. Simply building another multi-lane pavement albatross is fighting against reality, and I'm disgusted at how short-sighted the ICC is.
And where are the damn monkey wrenchers when you need 'em? The whole area along the ICC construction corridor is perfect for such activity, methinks. It would make for better reading, that's for sure!
I live at 15th and T...Ill be honest....I rarely see any significant amount of traffic, and I hardly ever see anyone going at what appear to be freeway speeds-what exactly is the problem that needs solving??
i used to live at the corner of 15th and T, loganmo (the big house on the southwest corner), and i witnessed a nice grisly head-on crash on the corner right in front of the house. wasn't the fault of the road itself there, per se, but i did see a lot of traffic flying along at really hight speeds through there.
Thanks for the kind words IMGoph. I still hold out a tiny sliver of hope that someone will come to their senses and call the whole thing off.
songfta: I'm all for it. They park all their stuff out in the open, wouldn't be hard to reach. :)
Eight years ago, I spent about six months commuting from Gaithersburg to Beltsville with work covering my mileage, since it was a temporary assignment.
Then, I would have loved the ICC.
Other than that, as someone who's worked in G'burg for 8 years, and lived there for most of it (I'm in Friendship Heights now), you'd think I'd be all over this. Hell, theoretically, it'd make living in much cheaper, way more interesting, Silver Spring a possibility to me.
No. Hell no. DO NOT WANT.
I'll happily pay another 10% extra in taxes for a Purple Line (and/or anything that connects the Red Line to the Orange in VA), but the ICC is pointless.
I'm even cool with some further expansion of jobs, development, etc. that makes the parts of Montgomery county that touch DC more of a dense city. Please, built that shit up nice and tight with public transit all over the place. I don't love the weird Disneylandish feel of Silver Sprung or whatever, but it still beats the crap out of strip mall after strip mall with inside malls breaking them up feel of G'burg, Germantown, etc.
Chill out on the 1950's car culture, and make it easier for me to commute in the morning without paying for $4 a gallon gas. Don't do something that'll just bring more condos and strip malls farther out of the city center. And sure as hell don't build yet another * Mills type mall in nearby PG. Jeebus, that's the last thing anyone needs.
DO NOT WANT.
~EEE~
Oh and while we're at it the ICC's bike trail is going to totally suck (if they don't end up scrapping the trail for "budgetary" or "environmental" reasons)