Intercounty Connector (ICC)
Media Coverage
You'll find a sampling of local and regional coverage of ICC news here.
ICC is a go, judge says
'No legal or equitable basis' to block it anymore; opponents say concerns still not answeredFriday, Nov. 26, 2007
by Margie Hyslop and C. Benjamin Ford | Staff Writers A federal judge cleared the way Thursday for construction to begin on the Intercounty Connector highway, planned for five decades to connect Interstate 270 near Gaithersburg with I-95 near Laurel. "There is no legal or equitable basis to prevent the Inter-County Connector from moving forward," wrote Judge Alexander Williams Jr. of U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. Substantial construction work, which was delayed while Williams considered new arguments that the toll road would harm the environment, may begin as early Tuesday near Gaithersburg, state highway officials said. The $2.4 billion, 18.8-mile road is expected to be complete by 2012. Williams said the Audubon Naturalist Society of the Central Atlantic States, Environmental Defense and the Sierra Club, groups that were instrumental in the latest legal challenge, did not demonstrate that federal transportation and highway agencies acted arbitrarily or capriciously in approving the controversial roadway. Full Gazette Story
Homeowners will wait-and-see with ICC
Some Layhill residents have moved on, others plan to stay and still others aren't sureWednesday, Sept. 6, 2006
by Kristina Gawrgy, Gazette Staff Writer
Anne Willson, 70, said she will find a way to move her 121-year-old house on Layhill Road if a proposed interchange off the Intercounty Connector becomes a reality. Willson's farm has been in the community for generations and she said neighbors have told her that her farm ''is Layhill," which makes the idea of having it demolished or moved even harder to comprehend.
'If I could find a site to put my house on, I would move my house," Willson said. ''There are a lot of memories here and a lot of history to this house, and I frankly just don't want to lose it. I just can't lose my home."
As changes become inevitable in areas surrounding Layhill Road where the proposed ICC will soon intersect, residents are beginning to finally face some decisions on their properties near the highway, which has been planned for decades but now appears to be finally coming.
'Some say they will move to avoid living near it. Some are hoping to make the best of the situation. Others, like Willson, are still waiting to see if the State Highway Administration will knock on their doors and tell them to start packing.
'The ICC, which is a six-lane, 18-mile toll-road, highway that would connect Interstate 270 in Gaithersburg with Interstate 95 at Laurel, will cut through the Longmead Crossing community in Silver Spring and run adjacent to Willson's farm.
'An interchange proposed with the environmental study in January 2006 might cause the farm to be sacrificed for the highway as well.
'The ICC does not threaten any other homes in the Longmead community specifically, but residents who live adjacent to where the highway will be constructed say the health risks, noise pollution and general unsightliness of a six-lane highway may lead them to move.
'Beth Gatti, who suffers from diabetes and asthma and is awaiting kidney and pancreas transplants, said she moved away from Arlington, Va., because of the pollution there. She said Longmead provided her with the fresh air she needed.
'Now, Gatti and her family will probably move again, but she is holding out to see if ICC plans change. The ICC would run directly behind Gatti's townhouse. ''The last thing we need is another road that is going to make people drive their cars," she said. ''I am much more of a believer of walking and biking."
'When constructed, the ICC would split the Longmead community in half along Park Vista Drive and cross Layhill Road. The community, which includes about 2,000 homes and 5,000 residents, would lose acres of wooded area.
'However, Rick Levine, president of the Longmead Crossings Community Services Association and a 12-year resident of the community, said he does not plan on leaving if the ICC comes. ''We'll see how it turns out, and just because the [State Highway Administration] tells you one thing doesn't mean that's how it's gonna be, but I don't anticipate mass exit," he said. ''We're going to do what we have to do. What else can you do?"
'Roger Plaut, a former resident and board member of the Longmead Crossings Community Services Association, said he moved out of his Longmead townhouse about a year ago for many reasons, one being the highway. Plaut said he thinks politicians and pro-ICC people are deceiving the public by saying that it is going to significantly improve the traffic. ''It would have such a small impact on traffic and congestion. It's just outrageous. People who live near the proposed route are upset."
'The surrounding neighborhoods, part of the Allanwood-Gayfields-Willson Hills-Gaywood Estates Civic Association, also feature many residents who oppose the ICC. President of the association, Joel Mazelis, said he opposes the ICC because of the traffic it would bring to Layhill Road. He also said most area traffic runs north and south and the ICC, which runs east and west, would not alleviate local problems.
'He also said the ICC has been poorly planned.
'''... I see it as a pure case of the right hand didn't know what the left hand is doing," Mazelis said. ''I could see it ending up our local version of the Big Dig like in Boston," referring to a tunnel project that dragged out over decades before completion. While Mazelis said he has no plans to leave the neighborhood after living there for 40 years, he did say he would continue to oppose the ICC in hopes that the project can be changed.
'However, according to the Federal Highway Administration, which approved the $2.4 million project May 29, the ICC is the closest to reality it has been since its inception nearly 60 years ago.
'The State Highway Administration is overseeing the planning and construction of the ICC. Plans for the section of ICC construction in which Longmead is located, is expected to start in the spring or summer of 2008, said ICC project manager Melinda Peters.
'In order to prevent the existing Longmead community from suffering from the side effects of a highway, she said that the ICC would run much lower in relation to the ground level of the homes. A vehicle and pedestrian overpass above Longmead Crossing Drive would be constructed and noise walls would also block much of the sound.
'Peters also said the ICC final construction is expected to be completed by 2012 and that about 50 homes and 10 businesses would have to be demolished. Throughout the ICC planning process and even through the coming years, the SHA will work closely with the communities affected.
'Meetings with Longmead residents will continue in order to give them timeframes and so they have a contact when they have concerns about something, Peters said. While some residents continue to voice their disdain for the highway, some realize that change is inevitable. ''I hear birds chirp in the morning," said Longmead resident Barbara Bienkowski. ''And now, we'll be hearing the roar of the engines or the humming of a highway."
'In the long run, housing may get a boost Real estate agents in the area favor the Intercounty Connector,
however, saying that the housing market would benefit in the long term. ''In the short run there could be a
negative impact, but in the long run it's improving transportation throughout the county and should have a
positive effect in the homes nearby," said Sidney E. Menkis of Menkis Realty in Kensington. ''Maybe not the ones
that back right up to [the ICC]. They can continue to appreciate, but not at quite the same rate." Lewis F. Laws,
director for property management for Maryland at Long & Foster Real Estate Inc., said he was a former resident
of the Longmead community and moved, in part, because the ICC was moving in. However, Laws, who owned a
condominium in the community from 1990 to 2004, said the housing market, especially condos at Longmead,
would not be affected negatively by the ICC. He also said he could see a younger demographic moving into the
area if they can afford the prices because of the easier commute and proximately to the highway. ''The younger
age group doesn't mind the traffic," he said
Intercounty Connector Gets Final Approval
After More Than 50 Years, Work on Montgomery-Pr. George's Link to Start in FallBy Steven Ginsberg and Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 31, 2006; A01
Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. stood on a patch of roadside grass yesterday to announce that the intercounty connector, a suburban highway more than a half-century in the making, has gained final approval from the federal government and that construction would begin in the fall on the ground beneath his feet.
The approval means that Maryland has satisfied all environmental, economic and community requirements and that it can build the highway across Montgomery and Prince George's counties. State officials plan to finish the project by 2010.
The only remaining obstacle is a potential lawsuit by project opponents, who said they were unsure whether they would pursue legal action. State officials expressed confidence that the highway will be built -- and soon.
"It's a go," Ehrlich said to the cheers of a few dozen supporters and over the loud objections of a handful of protesters. "The folks holding signs, you've had 56 years to delay this. This is our day."
The six-lane, 18-mile tolled highway will cut through a mixture of parkland and residential communities between the Interstate 270 and Interstate 95 corridors. It will claim about 58 homes in its path. The highway's estimated cost is $2.4 billion and could rise to $3 billion with financing costs, making it the most expensive new highway project in the region and one of the costliest in the nation.
The decision is a monumental victory for the Republican governor five months before Election Day. Four years ago, he ran on the promise that construction of the controversial highway would begin before the close of his first term. Ehrlich asked President Bush for help in speeding federal approval of the connector, first raising the subject during a visit with Bush at Camp David.
"He's needed something very tangible to reference as he goes from community to community campaigning for reelection, and he's going to tout this as a major, demonstrable accomplishment," said Keith Haller of the independent polling firm Potomac Inc.
Ehrlich saw the highway as a major selling point in Montgomery and Prince George's during his first campaign for governor, and his supporters said yesterday that a photo of the governor sinking a shovel into the soil to begin the project this year will be among the most pivotal images of his reelection bid.
When he campaigned four years ago, Ehrlich joked about seeing rusted, brush-covered signs touting, "ICC Coming Soon," with the names of governors from decades gone by. Ehrlich said yesterday that "those signs are a symbol of a past era" before he tore the cover off a new sign that declared, "Intercounty Connector Starts Here."
The announcement is also a boost for Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D), who campaigned four years ago on a pledge to build the highway and is one of two Democrats seeking the party's nomination to unseat Ehrlich. Duncan did not attend yesterday's event, held in his county on the Interstate 370 spur that links I-270 and the Shady Grove Metro station. The county executive and other elected officials were not told about the noon event until 9 a.m. yesterday, too late for him to make it, a spokesman said.
The connector is one of several transportation projects to advance this year. On May 18, local leaders dedicated the first of two spans of a new Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Earlier, a bridge that is an important part of the Springfield interchange opened, and the last of that eight-year project's main bridges is to be completed by year's end.
Transportation officials and business leaders said yesterday's announcement was the latest sign that the Washington area is willing to confront its extensive traffic problems. "The glacier of the status quo is starting to melt," said Bob Grow of the Greater Washington Board of Trade.
The announcement would have been hard to believe as recently as 1999, when Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) canceled an environmental study because of concerns about the highway's effect on streams, wetlands and wildlife. Opponents maintain those concerns and argue that the highway will lead to more sprawl that will beget more traffic.
Supporters say the highway is necessary to link the thriving business community that runs along I-270 to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and the Port of Baltimore, both accessible by I-95. They also say it will take drivers off local roads and give them a way across the crowded northern suburbs.
The connector will "give back thousands of hours of time to our constituents, particularly in Montgomery County," Ehrlich said. "It'll make our neighborhoods safer. It'll serve transit users with express bus service."
Ehrlich and Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan delivered their remarks over the catcalls of several protesters, including Eve Burton. A state police officer, under orders from a supervisor to get Burton away from news cameras, pulled her away and forced her to the ground.
"I am a 4-H Club leader, mother of four children, and this is what you do to me?" Burton shouted as the cameras followed and surrounded her. "The governor wants to take my home!"
Burton rose and continued to join others in shouting over the remarks of state and local officials, prompting Ehrlich to plead several times for "mutual respect."
Burton is a resident of the Cashell Estates community, where about a dozen homes will be destroyed to make way for the highway. Original plans for the connector did not call for running it through the community, but the current route was proposed in 2003 to avoid parkland, state officials said.
The federal government "basically said damage of Rock Creek Park could not be mitigated," Flanagan said of the original plans. "The road might not have been buildable if we had taken that route."
Staff writers Marc Fisher, Ann E. Marimow and John Wagner contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/30/AR2006053000634
ICC Wins Federal Approval
Protesters decry the decision while supporters cheer the beginning of the long-debated $2.4 billion highwayWednesday, May 31, 2006
by Douglas Tallman
Staff Writer, Gazette
Federal regulators gave their final approval to the Intercounty Connector, the controversial ribbon of highway sought for more than a generation, state officials announced in Gaithersburg on Tuesday. The latest development in the ICC's long and winding history came during a roadside news conference along Interstate 370, the Montgomery County terminus of the 18-mile road. A handful of hecklers arrived as well, to voice their objections over losing their homes to provide commuters a Gaithersburg-to-Laurel shortcut.
''You will pay with your souls!" shouted Eve Burton, a 26-year resident of Cashell Estates in Derwood, where 14 homes will be bulldozed.
At the news conference, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) unveiled a banner that read, ''The ICC starts here."
''Last night, we got the Federal Highway Administration's record of decision, and it's a go, and that's a big deal," Ehrlich said to the audience, made up mostly of government officials and business supporters of the highway.
Ehrlich touted the 14,000 jobs created by the project, as well as the $270 million in environmental remediation that will ''undo damage of old engineering practices."
To highlight the project's ''green" aspects, Ehrlich and other officials ceremonially planted a half dozen cherry trees.
The $2.4 billion highway will connect Montgomery's I-270 corridor with I-95 and U.S. 1 in Prince George's County almost directly to the east. The six-lane controlled-access highway will have nine interchanges and one intersection.
Work is expected to begin this fall. Portions will be completed in 2010 and 2011.
Maryland Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan said the state was in a ''renaissance of transportation" with the first section of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge completed on time and on budget, the completion last summer of a concourse at Thurgood Marshall BWI Airport, and progress on the Purple Line/Bicounty Transitway.
A number of supporters were there to cheer the news.
''I never thought I'd see this day. I've been supporting this road for 25 years," said state Sen. Jennie M. Forehand (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville.
''Now we can say for the first time that the ICC is going to happen," said Richard N. Parsons, president of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce. ''This is really it. The ICC fight is over, and we're going to have the ICC."
The federal approval also gives the green light for opponents to file suits to kill the deal.
''The lawsuits could slow it down depending on how long they take and how complex they get," said Robert Grow, director of transportation for the Washington Board of Trade.
Among the opponents was Dolores Milmoe, Maryland conservation associate for the Audubon Naturalist Society. She faulted the highway, citing studies that show it will make congestion worse in some spots, and the heavy toll on commuter's wallets: $7 for a round trip.
Flanagan said the exact toll will be established in about two years.
Ehrlich's remarks were interrupted several times by Burton and the other protesters. He acknowledged them by repeating, ''mutual respect." At one point he said: ''You've had 56 years to talk. This is the majority's time to talk."
When Burton first tried to voice her objections, a Maryland State Police trooper who was part of the governor's protection unit tried to lead her away. Burton at that point fell to the ground.
Surrounded by reporters, Burton tried to elaborate her plight over Ehrlich's remarks, which were amplified by a nearby speaker of a public address system.
The ICC will pass through her Derwood neighborhood instead of passing through a portion of Rock Creek Park.
Speaking to reporters, Flanagan said the state had no choice but to pass through Cashell Estates because the U.S. Department of Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency objected to the route through the park.
The state will use its ''quick take" authority to seize the properties, Flanagan said. From there, the state will try to help the homeowners. ''They will be working very closely ... with people on those concerns so that they know what their rights and what their alternatives are so they can get the benefit of the laws that are in their favor," Flanagan said.
But Parsons said the ICC has been well known for years. Anyone who bought homes in the area or along the right of way knew the highway was coming.
Another Cashell resident, Roger Metcalf, arrived with his children. He said he believed the noontime announcement was a ''calculated" maneuver to limit protests: The announcement was scheduled on a workday, after a three-day holiday and with only 90 minutes notice.
In addition to Forehand, Sens. Patrick J. Hogan (D-Dist. 39) of Montgomery Village and Rona E. Kramer (D-Dist. 14) of Olney, Del. Carol S. Petzold (D-Dist. 19) of Aspen Hill and County Councilwoman Nancy M. Floreen (D-At large) of Garrett Park attended Tuesday's ceremony.
Conspicuously absent was one longtime ICC advocate, Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, who is seeking the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. He was represented by Arthur Holmes, the county's transportation director. Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson sent an aide.
http://www.gazette.net/stories/053106/montsta192240_31939.shtml
Intercounty Connector Approved
Mike Rupert, The ExaminerMay 31, 2006 7:00 AM
Montgomery County - Construction of the InterCounty Connector, a controversial 18-mile toll road that will connect Interstates 270 and 95, will begin this fall after it received final approval from the federal government this week.
The $2.4 billion, six-lane suburban highway, which has been through dozens of incarnations since first proposed in 1950, received final approval from the Federal Highway Administration on Monday night, officials said Tuesday. Less than 24 hours later, Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich and a bipartisan group of state and local officials were side by side in the dirt along Interstate 370 near Gaithersburg, where construction of the first phase of the project is expected to begin this fall. The road is to be completed by 2010.
The east-west connector had been on life support for years because of environmental concerns until Ehrlich, Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan and other local officials made the highway a major part of their campaigns in 2002. Duncan, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge the Republican Ehrlich, did not attend the announcement.
"They have gutted the state dedicated transportation fund, cut transit and left future generations of Maryland to deal with the consequences," said Duncan, who did not attend Tuesday's event. "We must not be lulled into the belief that one road alone will solve our transportation challenges."
Ehrlich's announcement was met with a small but vocal protest with chants of "Home destroyers" and "Your souls will pay for this."
"This is the majority's time to talk," Ehrlich said as state troopers tried to quiet one loud protester. "It's easy to be a NIMBY, but it's not easy to be a constructive critic. You've already delayed this project 56 years."
Maryland Transportation Secretary Robert Flanagan said the new highway is expected to use tolls to manage congestion, with higher rates charged during peak times. The connector will also take hundreds of trucks and thousands of commuters off of the "winding two-lane country roads" that crisscross the region now. In addition, it will give Montgomery County residents easier access to the I-95 corridor and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Maryland State Sen. John Giannetti, D-Laurel, said that while the road has often been considered a "Montgomery County project," he feels his county will also see huge benefits. Giannetti said it will connect Prince George's County residents to high-paying technology jobs along the I-270 corridor.
To see a map of the ICC path, visit http://iccstudy.org/ProjectOverview.php?pageId=4.
» The highway will have nine interchanges and will use electronic toll collection to allow drivers to maintain highway speeds.
» The Maryland Transportation Authority will operate and maintain the roadway.
» The Maryland State Highway Administration will manage the design and construction through five major contracts.
» Robert Ehrlich said the project has an unprecedented $370 million worth of environmental mitigation, including state-of-the-art stormwater controls. Thousands of news trees and nearly 100 acres of wetlands will be replaced, with just 50 homes lost in the process.
mrupert@dcexaminer.com
http://www.examiner.com/a-123160~InterCounty_Connector_approved.html
ICC approved by Federal Government
Decision helps clear way for highway through D.C. suburbsBy Michael Dresser
Baltimore Sun reporter
May 31, 2006
SHADY GROVE -- More than 50 years after the road was first proposed, the federal government has signed off on construction of the 18-mile Intercounty Connector through the Washington suburbs, a jubilant Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. announced yesterday.
Waving off the catcalls of protesters - some of whom stand to lose their homes to build the highway - Ehrlich said the $2.4 billion ICC will bring thousands of new jobs in addition to relieving traffic congestion in Montgomery and Prince George's counties.
Opponents say they will study the Federal Highway Administration's decision, which was issued Monday night, and might challenge the approval in court. Barring such a challenge, the decision is essentially the final word on the project.
Maryland Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan said parts of the toll road between Interstate 270 and U.S. 1 could open as early as 2010. He said the ICC would give the Baltimore region an improved connection with Montgomery - the state's wealthiest and most job-rich county.
"This is going to knit our state together in a way that has never been achieved before," he said.
The Bush administration's approval reverses decisions made under two previous presidents that the east-west highway - first proposed in the 1950s as part of a since-abandoned Washington Outer Beltway - could not be built because of the severe environmental impact.
The environmental objections prompted former Gov. Parris N. Glendening to withdraw his support and cancel the project in 1999. But his attempt to permanently scuttle the highway by selling off state-owned parts of the right-of-way was thwarted by fellow members of the state Board of Public Works. Ehrlich resurrected the project after the 2002 election.
Yesterday, under a blazing sun outside the Shady Grove Metro station, Ehrlich celebrated the federal approval of his No. 1 transportation priority with what is likely to be the first of several ceremonial ground-breakings for the project.
"It's a very historic day in Maryland - 50 years is a long time to wait," he told a crowd that included transportation officials, state legislators and local officeholders.
The group did not include Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, a Democrat who is an enthusiastic ICC backer and a potential challenger to Ehrlich in the November election.
Duncan campaign spokeswoman Jody Couser said Duncan had been invited to the news conference at 9 a.m. yesterday but had an event on his schedule he could not cancel.
The county executive released a statement in which he echoed Ehrlich's ICC enthusiasm while criticizing the governor's transportation policy.
"In pursuing the ICC, the Ehrlich administration has essentially robbed Peter to pay Paul. They have gutted the state dedicated transportation fund, cut transit and left future generations of Maryland to deal with the consequences," Duncan said.
Federal approval of the ICC is a significant step toward fulfilling one of Ehrlich's key 2002 campaign promises and a potential advantage as he seeks re-election. But with Duncan and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley both on the record as ICC supporters, the election is unlikely to have much impact on the basic decision to build the road.
As approved, the ICC is to be a six-lane highway with tolls collected solely by electronic means such as E-ZPass. Tolls are to vary based on the level of congestion in an effort to reduce demand at peak travel times.
Flanagan said toll levels would not be set for about two years. But opponents have projected a $3.50 toll end to end each way - or $7 a day for a two-way commute - an amount they have said would price it out of the reach of many motorists.
Federal officials based their decision to approve the ICC this time - after rejecting it during the 1980s and 1990s - largely on the basis of a $370 million "environmental stewardship" package developed by federal, state and local agencies over the past three years. The Federal Highway Administration statement also pointed to improved construction techniques designed to lessen the highway's impact on streams, wetlands and parks.
Flanagan acknowledged that one of the modifications that helped win a federal blessing was the decision to spare an environmentally sensitive portion of Rock Creek Park by routing the ICC through the Cashell Estates neighborhood - forcing the removal of more than a dozen residences.
That decision contributed to the emotional nature of the confrontation between Ehrlich and some of the protesters who booed and jeered as he unveiled a sign saying "ICC Starts Here" near the intersections of I-270 and Interstate 370.
When Ehrlich said he looked forward to attending the ribbon-cutting for the highway, Eve Burton of Cashell Estates yelled: "Why should I look forward to having my home bulldozed?" At several points, Ehrlich admonished hecklers, calling for "mutual respect, please." "This is the majority's time to talk," he said.
Carol Arscott, an assistant secretary of transportation who attended the event, expressed bitterness at Burton's loud criticisms of Ehrlich and the ICC. "At the end of the day, she'll be alive and have a new house, but my husband's dead," Arscott said.
Frederick W. Arscott, 47, died in 2002 in a truck-car accident on Route 108 while commuting from Howard County to Rockville - a frequently congested two-lane road that ICC proponents contend has long been in need of relief. ICC backers contend the highway would improve traffic safety by, among other things, diverting truck traffic off local roads.
Opponents of the ICC contend the highway's potential benefits have been exaggerated while its environmental impact has been understated. Laura Olsen, spokeswoman for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, said opponents would study the federal decision and consider whether to file a lawsuit seeking to block construction.
michael.dresser@baltsun.com
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/traffic/bal-md.icc31may31,0,5685497.story
Desperate People
The GazetteThursday, Jan. 5, 2006
The increasingly desperate foes of the Intercounty Connector - the proposed road connecting Interstate 270 in Gaithersburg with Interstate 95 in Laurel that should have been built 30 years ago - sunk to a new low over the holidays.
They got a lot of attention for a well-timed ''news" conference during a virtually news-free Christmas week at which they revealed that the ICC would be a toll road.
Wow, headlines in The Post and video on TV to announce something that has been reported in almost every story on the road for the last three years!
And the opponents, who have long argued that practically no one will use the ICC, now are pretending to be concerned that the ICC toll will be too high for all the people who might want to use it. Please.
The one-way toll for the 18-mile road is estimated to be about $3.50. This would be an onerous burden on low-income people, the foes sanctimoniously announced.
Well, the maximum fare on Metro Rail (which does not go to Laurel) is $3.90. Metro buses and Ride On buses are cheaper, but much more difficult to use from Gaithersburg to Laurel. Of course, when the ICC is built, the buses will ply the new route and people who ride in them will pay no toll. But, never mind about that.
Soon, the ICC foes vow, they will go to court to try again to stop or delay by years construction of the road. Then they will hold news conferences announcing that long delays have made the road too costly. It is all part of the intellectual dishonesty that pervades this movement.
http://www.gazette.net/stories/010406/montedi164140_31921.shtml
