Federal courts could hear ICC lawsuits by Oct. 1

But residents and environmental groups worry that construction will begin before cases are heard

The ICC, an 18-mile toll road that will connect Interstate 370 in Gaithersburg with Interstate 95 in Laurel, is expected to cost $2.4 billion.

Oral arguments on the broad environmental concerns of the ICC are expected to be heard on Oct. 1 in U.S. District Court of Maryland in Greenbelt, according Mike Harold, ICC campaign director for the Audubon Naturalist Society.

Audubon Naturalist Society joined Maryland Native Plant Society Inc. and two Montgomery County residents, Roger Metcalf and Eve Burton — a Derwood couple who would lose their home to the highway — as plaintiffs in one lawsuit against the ICC.

The other lawsuit was filed by Environmental Defense and Sierra Club, citing concerns about the air quality. Those arguments will be heard on Oct. 29.

Joining the environmental groups, more than 30 Prince George’s County officials recently signed an Amicus brief, strongly opposing the construction of the ICC, citing conflicts with the county’s comprehensive planning and worsening of the economy, traffic conditions and the environment.

‘‘The project’s not a done deal,” Michael Replogle, transportation director for Environmental Defense, said.

Replogle cited a recent lawsuit in New Hampshire where an environmental group won its case against the widening of Interstate 93. According to news reports, the federal judge ruled that highway administrators used out-of-date population projections in their environmental impact report.

Replogle said the situation with the ICC in Maryland is similar and Environmental Defense hopes for the same outcome.

In a recent community meeting, an SHA official gave October as a tentative start date for construction of the ICC; however, in follow-up phone calls officials could not give a specific date other than to say fall of this year.

‘‘It would be imprudent for the state to go forward with construction when serious issues remain in front of the courts,” Replogle said. ‘‘If the state basically proceeds at its own peril, the project may get stopped in its tracks. We hope the judge will rule as quickly as possible in the next couple of weeks.”

Harold said SHA has been trying to ‘‘railroad” the ICC project through the process all along.

‘‘It would be in keeping, and hardly be surprising, if SHA wouldn’t consider giving the judge and courts the time required to make a decision on the lawsuits,” Harold said.

Harold said that if construction is scheduled to begin before a decision is made, that is something the judge will address.

‘‘Clearly, the judge is expected to make decision if project is to go ahead,” Harold said. ‘‘He doesn’t want to be preempted by the project going ahead before he makes a decision. Clearly, we expect them to not move ahead until the court case is resolved.”

A small victory

Meanwhile, altered designs for so-called Contract A, the stretch of road from Interstate 370 to Route 97 (Georgia Avenue), were presented to Derwood residents last week during a community meeting with State Highway Administration officials.

An exit ramp near Washington Grove was lowered by 20 feet and another shifted away from the Briardale community, SHA officials said.

Community members were glad that the change addressed noise and height concerns they expressed during an April meeting, but SHA officials said the change was not necessarily to address the noise.

‘‘The design for access to the ICC on the Shady Grove Road side was modified, not just to address noise, because Washington Grove doesn’t qualify for noise mitigation,” said Odessa Phillip, community liaison for the ICC project team for Contract A.

Phillip told The Gazette last Friday that the design changes address environmental concerns, such as the more than 300 linear feet of stream and wetland impacts.

‘‘It kind of addresses the visual impact, although there is no finding of visual impact to Washington Grove,” Phillip said. ‘‘It makes the entire interchange 20 feet lower to all surrounding communities.”

Pat Labuda, president of the Greater Shady Grove Civic Alliance, said that while the community ideally does not want to see the ICC built, the changes lessen the impact.

‘‘I fail to see how lowered ramps in any way address stream impacts,” Labuda said. ‘‘We feel it was in response to community concerns.”

Eric Mellor, one of the highway designers, said the state issued a limited notice to proceed about one or two months ago. He said that means that while no construction will be done, there has been minor field activity, such as various geotechnical and environmental studies.

‘‘Enough to get some data so the final designs will accurately reflect the existing conditions,” Phillip said.

SHA will hold two open houses in October to give an overview of the project and offer more details of the landscape plan.

Labuda said she hopes SHA will address more of the community’s concerns, such as the air quality issue and compensation for residents whose homes will be lost or property values decrease due to the highway.

‘‘It needs to be more than their nice diagrams and shows and people answering questions, then putting out a paper that says that they’re doing community outreach,” Labuda said.

‘‘We are very, very concerned with the impact [the ICC] has on the community, this is just one of many concerns that this community has,” she added.