Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
Transportation Policy Board
Intercounty Connector Testimony
October 20th, 2004

My name is Dan Wallace, I represent the 4,000 members of the Montgomery Intercounty Connector Coalition, which has opposed an ICC since 1989. I want to thank the Board for this opportunity to comment today.

For some 40 years, advocates of an ICC have claimed that it would relieve traffic on our major arteries, the Beltway, I-95, and I-270. Yet, every study has shown that an ICC would reduce traffic minimally, especially when compared to alternatives such as upgrading existing roads and transit opportunities. Still, the ICC pros pushed traffic relief, crowing that it would take 21,000 cars off of the Beltway, as though it were a bathtub, not a traffic stream.

Then, suddenly these same proponents went quiet on dropped traffic relief. Indeed, the Washington Post reported September 17th that "State officials have dropped claims that the highway would reduce traffic congestion on the Capital Beltway or other major roads." So, the pros went to economics, and how great it would be for Prince George's County, which would get 6,294 new jobs according to an SHA-sponsored economic study that has yet to release its data, or methodology, by the way. These results are suspect, too, because building I-270 has proven to cost Prince George's County 96,000 jobs. That's a dramatic disconnect, which raises the question, if the reasoning put forth for an ICC keeps changing, we have to ask what's going on here?

Maybe politics fueled by support from special interests have something to do with it. Perhaps a more pointed question is why are we hurrying to a decision, before the new environmental impact statement has been released? Well, we know that the governor of Maryland wants part of it built by 2006 just in time for his reelection bid.

Again, folks, we've been at this for more than four decades, what's the rush to decision now? It seems like a bum's rush, and if that's so, who are the bums, we the public? You have an opportunity to defy any political pressure being exerted by voting on the merits of an ICC alone. Repeatedly, all studies have shown that an ICC possesses no merit. Do us, our kids, and our grandchildren a real service for now and the future, first by waiting for the new impact statement, then by turning down an ICC once and for all.