The ICC needs to be front and center on Maryland's cost cutting table.
There are few good reasons remaining in building a hulking and polluting dinosaur of a road project that will cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars not just now, but well into our future in interest payments, obesity and pollution when we haven't seriously tried alternatives at a fraction of the cost. For instance - did you know that the Washington area has a Guaranteed Ride Home program for carpoolers, transit users and bike commuters but that the entire rest of Maryland does not? How can we build a new road at over $180 million a mile without funding such simple, much less expensive alternatives that could eliminate the need for new roads?
How can the State ask employees to take furloughs and other human service agencies to endure state funding cuts while simultaneously taking tens of millions from the general fund for a road? The ICC is a backwards 20th Century project that won't reduce congestion and will spur a new onslaught of sprawling development along its entire route. It's permanently destroying over 1,000 acres of open space.
• Granted, its under construction, but so was the nightmarish 1970's era I-70 bypass through central Baltimore that would have bisected Leakin Park, Federal hill, Fells point, Highlandtown and imagine this, a bridge across the Inner Harbor! We thankfully stopped that monstrosity when it was halfway completed and now it's time to do likewise with the ICC.
• If we are truly going to move into a greener, cleaner future, building new roads can no longer be part of that vision.
• With high car ownership costs, falling housing prices, increasing congestion and obesity you’d think our leaders would be looking not next year but 10 and even 100 years into the future in preventing this slow moving disaster from recurring.
Real leadership would stop the road immediately and put the money into the best quality mass and active transportation systems we've ever seen, anywhere. We can live with our current highway infrastructure if we have the courage to find ways in reducing auto use. It takes real vision and determination in making our state a leader in sustainable development and management. No more State cuts until the ICC goes first!
Greg Cantori Carol Silldorff
One Less Car President One Less Car Executive Director
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