A First Drive on the ICC: It’s Shiny, It’s New and It Takes 7 Minutes

It’s not every day that you get to drive on a highway that is only nine days old.

But in the spirit of adventure, Patch editor Brian Hooks and I took a cruise on the smooth, newly poured pavement of the Intercounty Connector, the first section of the toll road expected to substantially slice the amount of time some suburban Washington and Baltimore commuters spend on the road.

It’s the first new highway in more than a decade in Maryland, which is struggling with deteriorating roads and increasing commute times.

State highway officials expect to complete the entire ICC in December of 2018. It could shave more than an hour off morning and evening commutes between Gaithersburg and BWI Airport, according to estimates from an ICC environmental analysis.

Eventually, the ICC will stretch 18 miles and connect Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, linking Interstate 270/370 with U.S. Route 1.

On the road Thursday, the scuffs on the asphalt were few and the white walls beneath the bridges gleamed.

As we cruised onto the six-lane highway from Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring and left it at the Shady Grove Metro station in Rockville, we felt nary a rough spot for the 7.2 miles. There was little but open road between us and our next assignment and it never even occurred to us to look out for potholes.

Driving the peaceful, relatively empty road, you’d never know its construction was snarled for years by controversy.

David Buck, a spokesman with the Maryland State Highway Administration said the highway had been in Montgomery County’s Master Plan for 40 to 45 years.

“Many people who lived there didn’t believe it would come to fruition,” he said.

But it did, amid criticism from environmental groups and homeowners living near the highway.

The Coalition for Smarter Growth, a D.C.-region organization concerned with preserving natural and historic areas, is among the groups that has opposed its construction, saying that the project--now estimated to cost $2.56 billion--is too expensive and puts too much of a burden on the environment.

The Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club has also said the ICC would increase automobile use, sprawl and air pollution.

The last major highway built in the area was Maryland Route 100, a road extension that opened in November of 1998, Buck said. Interstate 68 was built in western Maryland in 1991, he said.

The ICC is paid for with a mix of bonds from state and federal sources, as well as with $1.23 billion from the Maryland Transportation Authority, the state agency that operates toll roads.

On Feb. 21, Gov. Martin O’ Malley (D), as well as other county leaders, gathered in a ceremonial ribbon cutting of the first segment of the tollway.

“There have been some rough times in terms of what it took to get this road completed, not always smooth,” O’Malley said at the time. “But when we decided to build it, we wanted to build it well.”

O’Malley also praised the project’s ability to create jobs.

 “The University of Maryland study says 14,000 jobs in Montgomery and Prince George’s County will be created by this,” he said.

 But others said long-term financial gain is overshadowed by the short-term costs of traveling on the ICC.

“I don’t have a problem with it--other than the exorbitant toll prices, which I heard they were going to charge,” said Elkridge resident Charlene Randolph. “I don’t understand how, especially in this economy, people are going to be able to afford it, and if it ends up not sustaining itself, then it’s a huge waste of money.”

Drivers who use the road for a daily commute, once in the morning and once at night, will be charged $1.45 per trip, equaling $14.50 per week. Prices go down to $1.15 per trip for off-peak hours and 60 cents per overnight trip.

Drivers will be charged on the electronic tollway with E-ZPass technology, a device placed in a car that connects to an overhead antenna identifying the vehicle and registering tolls via a credit card or other payment method.

 It costs $46 to open an E-ZPass account, $25 of that is for pre-paid tolls and $21 is for the toll-collecting technology.  (Motorists can register by visiting www.ezpassmd.com.)

 Hopes remain high that the ICC will help ease the transportation headaches that have been plaguing residents and political leaders in suburban Baltimore and Washington, D.C., for years.

 Analysts from TRIP, a D.C.-based organization that researches transportation issues, has confirmed what commuters in the area have long known, calculating that 55 percent of Maryland’s urban highways were congested, carrying traffic volumes that resulted in significant rush-hour delays.

According to TRIP, vehicle travel in Maryland increased 36 percent from 1990 to 2008–jumping from 40.5 billion vehicle miles traveled in 1990 to 55 billion in 2008.

By 2025, vehicle travel in Maryland is projected to increase by another 30 percent, according to TRIP.

To help strained roads, leaders including Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett and Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III, lobbied in the past week for passage of a bill to raise the gas tax by 10 cents per gallon–from 23.5 cents to 33.5 cents, with the money going for various transportation projects.

On Thursday, a cruise on the first stretch of the ICC took an easy 7 minutes. That would have been some kind of miracle taking side roads.

Apparently, enjoying a bit of freedom on the road was a novelty a lot of people around town wanted to try.

Dana Tofig, director of public information for Montgomery County public schools, drove the road Sunday.

“It seems like a pretty high-tech experience with the overhead scanners that will grab people’s E-ZPass,” he said. And, “It was so new you could almost see the reflection of your car in it.”