MoCo looking to add ICC trail back

The Intercounty Connector, the highway project to connect the I-370 and I-95/US 1 corridors within central and eastern Montgomery County and northwestern Prince George's County was originally to include a bike trail along the 18 mile length of the project. In 2004, when the project went over budget by $300K$400M, the trail was dropped to save $100KM. In 2005, a seven mile trail was added. Or rather, 7.7 miles of non-contiguous trail. Now the Montgomery County Planning Board is recommending to the county council ways to complete the project.

[Chuck Kines, bikeways planner⁄coordinator for Park and Planning] said SHA has agreed to work with the county to construct and connect the remaining 10.3 miles over time as funding becomes available and ways to build the segments in an environmentally friendly manner are found.

He said he and other Park and Planning staff and Montgomery County Department of Public Works and Transportation staff met periodically over the summer to develop a list of recommendations for construction.

During Thursday’s meeting before the Planning Board, Kines presented those recommendations and discussed the benefits of a bike path parallel to a highway.

The recommendations listed in a memo from Kines to the Planning Board include ways to connect the 7.7 miles already planned, as well as ways to make the entire path more cyclist- and pedestrian-friendly.

Montgomery county seems more committed to the trail than the state.

[State Highway Administration] members were invited to the meeting, Kines said, but elected not to attend.

(One problem may be that a bicycle project is under the control of the "Highway" administration)

One of the recommendations would connect the Intercounty Connector bike path with Beach Drive and Rock Creek Park via a new shared-use path along Needwood Road and then continuing the shared-use path westward along Needwood Road to connect to Redland Road. As a result, pedestrians and cyclists would gain access to the Shady Grove Metro Station.

Like I said before, it's disingenuous to claim that there is enough money for a $2.4 billion dollar highway but not a $100 million bikeway. And Kines disagrees with that price tag.

Kines said it is not known how much the bike path would cost, but initially the State Highway Administration estimated $100 million. Kines said Park and Planning and the Department of Public Works and Transportation believe it could cost as little as $50 million.

‘‘The council estimates that a shared use bike path from planning to construction costs $2 million per mile,” he said.

I don't care for the ICC. It won't alleviate traffic, it passes through environmentally sensitive land and it's too expensive. It's a 1950's solution. A rail line would have been better. But like MoBike and others I agree that if they insist on building this thing, it must have a bikeway with it.

‘‘Basically, our position is we’re not saying we support the ICC, but if the ICC is built, we want to make sure that it has a parallel bike path next to it so that it serves cyclists as well as drivers,” Jack Cochrane said.

If there really isn't money or land for the project than I agree with this statement.

If the ICC cannot be stopped and they insist on building this road, they should be required by law to permit cyclists to use every inch of the route end to end. Ideally, they would take a lane away from the cars and give it to the bikes.

Dr. Gridlock met with John Porcari the new/old Secretary of Transportation for Maryland and this is what the Dr. said about the ICC trail

I didn't ask Porcari specifically about the unfunded portion of the ICC bikeway, but I've got to believe that if he can find a way to extend it along the entire route, he'll do that.
During the interview, Porcari frequently mentioned his enthusiasm for the region's bike trails and the need to use every opportunity to expand them.
He noted with some pride -- because he was involved in the planning -- that the new Wilson Bridge will be accessible to bikers.

Comments

Every new highway that is built in this country should have a bikeway and railroad rights of way for any future heavy or light rail. It is totally letting the foreign oil/gas interests to run our transport policy when this kind of planning is omitted.it is simply a waste not to do this.The ICC should be a future link between Metro or commuter train legs and not just a highway. Multi-modal is the only way to go if the USA is truly serious about energy independence.

[Murph]

Just read this article. Trail was dropped to save $100M not $100K. I'm still for it, but there's a difference. It will be a lot more expensive to add it later.
Any updates on this?

[washcycle]

I haven't heard anything since this happened. MoBike might know something more recent though.