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.