Lawyers representing two environmental groups told a federal judge Monday that the 18-mile Intercounty Connector would add to air pollution and increase motor-vehicle traffic rather than ease congestion.
Monday’s action before U.S. District Court Judge Alexander Williams Jr. in Greenbelt is the first of two federal lawsuits seeking to halt construction of the proposed 18-mile toll highway.
Monday’s plaintiff groups, the Audubon Naturalist Society and the Maryland Native Plant Society, along with two homeowners, claim in the suit that the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration and the Army Corps of Engineers failed to consider alternatives while planning the highway and too narrowly defined its scope so that the project’s route was “predetermined.”
“Their own analysis shows there are numerous intersections and existing roads in the study area that actually will experience increased congestion if the ICC toll road is built,” Langley Shook, attorney for the plaintiffs, said. “And many of those intersections are on the key roadways, namely I-270, U.S. Route 29, I-95, U.S. Route 1, MD Route 185, MD 97, MD Route 182 plus where these roads meet the Capitol Beltway.”
State studies found the highway’s construction would result in a 20 percent increase in the number of vehicle miles traveled in a large section of the county by 2030, but state highway officials maintain congestion on local roads would significantly decrease.
Road opponents say the increase in vehicle miles traveled will add to air pollution and the emissions linked to global warming. Attorneys representing state and federal agencies said the government had done a “comprehensive and copious” analysis of the ICC project and it deemed construction of the road in the public’s best interest.
“The ICC will have a minor impact, if any, on the health of people living near or attending school near the project,” said Wells Burgess, attorney for the Federal Highway administration.
Construction on the ICC project, which would connect Interstate 270 in Montgomery County to I-95 in Prince George’s, is scheduled to begin later this month.
Lawyers have asked Williams to rule on Monday’s suit before the second lawsuit is scheduled to get underway in court, also later this month.
