- The ICC..... It's Climate Change
State and federal studies show the ICC would sharply increase automobile use, trigger thousands of acres of new sprawl development, and increase air pollutant emissions.
- Maryland's Own Big Dig
The ICC would cost more than $ 3 billion -- nearly $180 million per mile -- and might be the most expensive transportation project in Maryland's history.
- That Giant Sucking Sound.. and a Mountain of Debt
In addition to draining $265 million from Maryland's General Fund and $180 million from our Transportation Trust Fund, the ICC would saddle the state with massive, potentially risky public debt. The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) plans to mortgage our transportation future issuing almost $2 billion in public debt for the ICC, with nearly $1 billion in interest to be paid on that debt. The ICC bonds would leave the state at 93% of its legal debt capacity and jeopardize Maryland's ability to invest in schools and other capital projects.
- The ICC..... That's All Folks!
Building the ICC would also jeopardize Maryland's ability to afford essential road and bridge maintenance and urgent needed transit project such as the Purple Line in Montgomery and Prince George's counties, the Red and Green lines in Baltimore City, the Corridor Cities Transit-way in Montgomery County and others.
- Another Nail in the Bay's Coffin
The ICC would devastate the headwaters of the Rock Creek and the Anacostia River, and would deeply undermine decades-long efforts to restore the Anacostia, the lower Potomac and the Chesapeake Bay.
- Speaking of Coughin' ..... When You Can't Breathe
The ICC poses a grave threat to public health.
- Less Damaging, Less Expensive Alternatives Exist
In the past six years, an agency study and, more recently, non-profit and environmental and transportation groups have shown that alternatives that reduce sprawl, balance jobs and housing, and improve public transit would provide more transportation choices to more people, and meet many of the region's transportation needs as well as or better than the ICC and Outer Beltway.
- A Developer Boondoggle and a Toll Truckway That Few Commuters Could Afford
MDOT plans to build the ICC as a toll road, and currently estimates that a commuter making a full round-trip would pay more than $7 each day to use the ICC. That translates to nearly $2000 per year.
- Deepening the Divide in a Region Already Divided
A Region Divided, published by the Brookings Institution, found that high-paying jobs and public investments have tended to go to the Washington region's suburbs and to areas in the region's western half, short-changing communities in the District of Columbia (especially in the eastern part of the city), the inner suburbs and Prince George's County. The ICC and the Outer Beltway would widen this regional divide, forcing residents of the region's east to continue making long auto commutes to the I-270 and Dulles corridors.
- The Bush & Ehrlich Administrations Violated Many Environmental Laws
In refusing to consider less damaging alternatives and to assess the ICC's full impact, the Bush and Ehrlich administrations violated numerous state and federal environmental and public health laws. They also denied the public, the directly threatened communities, and elected officials their rights to have a fully informed say on this destructive, wasteful project.
Why Baltimore-Area Residents and Businesses
Should Oppose the Intercounty Connector
For more than a decade, Taxpayers for Common Sense, Friends of the Earth, and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group have highlighted the Intercounty Connector (ICC) as one of the most wasteful and destructive projects in the country. This 18.8 mile, six-lane highway would cost roughly $4 billion – more than $200 million per mile.
Even though the ICC would be a toll highway, Baltimore-area resident and business are expected to pay a hefty percentage of that massive price tag through sharply increased tolls and through diversions of $1.475 billion in state and federal funds to the ICC.
Much of the state and federal funds and state debt capacity budgeted for the ICC could be invested instead in transit and maintenance projects that would better serve communities, protect the environment, help fight global warming, and reduce oil consumption.
But the State’s ICC financing plan places this single ineffective mega-project first before all other transportation projects in Maryland and even before many non-transportation needs, such as schools, public safety, public health, energy efficiency and environmental protection.
Three major agency studies in 11 years have found that the ICC would not make a dent in congestion on I-95, I-270 or I-495 or most local roads, but would sharply increase driving and add traffic to certain major commuter routes.
After being rejected by the Reagan and Clinton administrations, the ICC was fast-tracked through a deeply flawed environmental review by George Bush and Bob Ehrlich.
Baltimore Residents and Businesses Will Pay for the ICC’s Construction and Maintenance in at Least Four Ways
Sharply Rising Tolls to Help Pay Billions in ICC-Related Debt
Even though the ICC will itself be a toll road, drivers using Maryland’s other toll facilities will be forced to subsidize the ICC’s construction and maintenance costs until roughly 2045, and possibly longer.
The Maryland Transportation Authority (MdTA) plans to issue roughly $1.2 billion in toll-revenue debt for the ICC. Interest on that debt could approach $1.2 billion. The MdTA plans to pay off much of that debt by draining revenues from toll facilities across the state – including the Key Bridge, Fort McHenry Tunnel, and Harbor Tunnel – for at least 30 years.
The MdTA recently raised toll rates to address major funding shortfalls, and it plans to double average toll rates state-wide by FY 2013, partly to pay for the $4 billion ICC.
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