MICC Facts

The InterCounty Connector is a proposed 17 mile, controlled access, divided highway that would connect I-270 and I-95 between Shady Grove and Laurel/Greenbelt.

The Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) completed a four volume, 1200 page Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the InterCounty Connector, released to the public for comment on April 4, 1997. Since then MICC's volunteer study team has carefully analyzed the DEIS. MICC has uncovered the following facts supported by the SHA's own data (page numbers refer to the DEIS):

Contrary to the Purpose and Need for the ICC:

ICC would not relieve Beltway (I-495) traffic by more than 7% maximum (top of p. VI-25).
ICC would not relieve local traffic volume (see p. VI-27). In fact, ICC would increase congestion regardless of the alternative route chosen (Table VI-5).
ICC would not be fully utilized; minimal numbers (5%) of the ICC users would go from end to end (see Table VI-16).
ICC is not needed to provide east-west transit bus service (p. I-16). Buses do not need a new highway, but new highways need buses (or other measures -- see 23 CFR 500.505) if built in areas (like Montgomery County) that are not in compliance with the Clean Air Act.
Contrary to furthering economic development in Montgomery County:
ICC would draw patrons away from Montgomery County businesses to support the Konterra Megamall in Prince George's County; Konterra depends on this patronage and on the ICC (pp. III-44 & IV-33).
ICC would spur foreseeable development in undesirable places and patterns. [The DEIS violates legal requirements (40 CFR 1508.25) by failing to determine such effects.]
Contrary to improving the human and social environment:
ICC would displace up to 539 residents (p. IV-12) and 298 employees (p. IV-19).
ICC would increase noise in up to 61 areas in excess of lawful thresholds (p. S-15). The DEIS ignores the local noise ordinance -- violating legal requirements (40 CFR 1500.2) (p. IV-275).
ICC would require erecting noise barriers up to 26 feet high (p. IV-276). These would look hideous, attract graffiti, obscure views, reflect noise, and divide neighborhoods.
ICC would carry heavy trucks with hazardous cargoes which can spill into neighborhoods, drinking water, and sensitive streams (pp. IV-203 & IV-204); forcing evacuations. SHA neglected to study the hazardous materials emergency response capability of local fire departments.
ICC would fragment and obliterate community cohesiveness (viz., Longmead, Layhill, Norwood, Fairland, Tanglewood, Harding Lane, and Spencerville) (see Fig. III-11).
ICC would depress property values. The DEIS violates legal requirements [23 U.S.C. 109(h)] by not analyzing impact on property values and tax losses.
Contrary to respecting the natural environment:
ICC would destroy up to 552 acres of forests (including old growth forests, champion tree specimens, and endangered species) (p. IV-221).
ICC would take up to 145 acres of irreplaceable parks (pristine wilderness) (p. V-85).
ICC would ruin up to 31,427 linear feet of streams (springs and headwaters) (p. IV-214).
ICC would threaten the last spawning population of brown trout in Montgomery County (p. IV-197).
ICC would encroach up to 60 acres of floodplains (vital for the increasing problem of flood control) (p. IV-218).
ICC would blast up to 35 acres of bedrock (to make deep cuts for roadways) (p. IV-135).
ICC would compel homeowners near the Paint Branch to redirect downspouts and replace concrete surfaces and blacktop with gravel or brick to attempt to restore the watershed (p. IV-208).
Costs:
ICC would cost at least one billion dollars (p. VII-39). This money would be better spent on transportation projects that move people not cars.

Unofficial count:
158 out of 179 people who testified at the DEIS public hearings
were opposed to the ICC!!