Study calls for postponing ICC

It’s too expensive and harmful, opponents say

Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) has called for a one-year delay in funding $53 million for the road. The delay will not postpone construction, state officials say.

A group of lawmakers and 1000 Friends of Maryland, which commissioned the study with funding from the Abell Foundation, hope to change that.

The study says the highway will deplete state transportation funds and calls on the O’Malley administration to consider the impact of the road on communities and the new infrastructure needs brought by the military’s national base realignment.

‘‘The economic facets of this project are staggering,” said Del. Barbara A. Frush (D-Dist. 21), of Beltsville, one of 28 legislators who have signed a letter calling for O’Malley to put the project on hold in order to reconsider its impacts. If the state goes forward with the project, she said, ‘‘we will be mortgaging our entire transportation future for at least 10 years, maybe longer.”

Portions of the ICC, which broke ground in October, are expected to be complete in 2010 and 2011.

The ICC could sap transportation funds from other projects such as the Purple Line, which would link the Metrorail lines in the Washington suburbs, and the Red Line, which would connect Baltimore’s western suburbs to the city’s rail system, said Dru Schmidt-Perkins, executive director for 1000 Friends of Maryland.

‘‘All these other priorities are going to be held hostage by this highway unless we really have the conversations that we need to have,” she said.

While the issues raised in the report are important to consider, the ICC is a project whose time has come, said Sen. Jennie M. Forehand (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville.

‘‘It’s important for these issues to be talked about,” she said. ‘‘They are issues that have been talked about for 40 years.”