A key legal challenge to the InterCounty Connector has been dropped on the condition that Maryland officials add two new environmental safeguards as they complete the 18-mile toll road.
The Environmental Defense Fund agreed to end its appeal of a federal ruling on the highway project if Maryland officials spend $2 million to retrofit some Montgomery County diesel school buses with pollution controls and set up an air quality monitor along Interstate 95.
“This settlement will help offset some of the adverse effects of the ICC on public health,” the nonprofit environmental group’s chief health scientist, Dr. John Balbus said in a written statement on Monday. “It also will provide important data on levels of fine particulate air pollution near high traffic volume roads like I-95.”
Such particulate matter is associated with premature death, respiratory diseases, cancer and heart disease.
Neil Pedersen, administrator of the Maryland State Highway Administration, hailed the settlement as the final legal hurdle on the $2.4 billion highway project.
Earlier this year, some Maryland lawmakers had unsuccessfully pushed to stall or even halt construction of the roadway until environmental concerns were addressed.
The toll road, already under construction, will connect Interstate 270 in Montgomery County with Interstate 95 in Prince George’s County. The west end of the highway from I-270 to Georgia Avenue is slated to open in the fall of 2010. The remaining sections are slated for completion by early 2012.
