Maryland officials on Thursday broke ground on a portion of the Intercounty Connector that marks the beginning of the construction process for the controversial 18-mile thoroughfare.
The $2.4 billion toll road will connect Montgomery County?s Interstate 370 in Gaithersburg to Interstate 95/Route 1 in Prince George?s County.
“It has been 50 years in the making, and today the dream comes true. Construction on the ICC is under way,” said Gov. Robert Ehrlich, who said the project will reduce congestion and boost economic development in the region.
The site of Thursday?s groundbreaking was off Georgia Avenue, near Norbeck Road south of Olney, where the ICC will run under the avenue.
The area soon will have a field office for contractors to do soil testing and design work, said Valerie Burnette Edgar, a Maryland State Highway Administration spokeswoman.
State Sen. Rona Kramer, D-Silver Spring, has advocated for the new six-lane east-west connector route to run under Georgia Avenue for the past year. The agreement between the community and state was to use the dirt from under the roadway to create berms along the highway.
The berms “would protect the community and buffer them” from noise and air pollution that results from a regular intersection “with no effect to the cost,” Kramer said.
“We have been conservative in our budget estimates and we have anticipated certain contingencies that may arise,” said Robert Flanagan, Maryland?s Secretary of Transportation, who said costs were managed within the contract to maintain the budget.
“I think this tunneling under Georgia Avenue is testimony to the efforts we have been making to work withcommunities in and around the ICC,” Flanagan said.
But the roadway still has its critics.
“Calling it a community-friendly endeavor when it is taking how many homes, splitting neighborhoods it isn?t taking homes from, not to mention all the park space it will take over, is an insult to people who live in the corridor. Today?s event is political theater,” said Chris Carney, a Sierra Club spokesman.
Construction on the ICC
» Tree planting under way
» Soccer field construction began
» Wetland creation in design
» First segment between Interstate 370 and Georgia Avenue to open in 2010
» Remaining four segments expected
