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A small group of critics, angered by the expensive tolls proposed for the Intercounty Connector, used a public hearing in Beltsville on Wednesday to accuse Maryland Transportation Authority officials of lying.
"People are shocked, but they can't make it any cheaper because they have to pay off the bonds," said Prince George's County Councilman Thomas E. Dernoga (D-Dist. 1) of Laurel, a longtime opponent of the ICC. "Now the lies are coming home to roost."
Construction on the $2.5 billion road began earlier this year after decades of local opposition and court battles. A section of the road is scheduled to open next fall. The full road is expected to be ready in late 2011.
To pay back the billions borrowed for construction, state officials say they would need to charge rush-hour drivers 35 cents for each mile they travel on the road. The rate would be 25 cents for off-peak hours, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., as well as weekends and holidays. Tolls would be charged for about 17 miles of the road.
Under the proposed toll structure, drivers would have to use an EZ Pass, for which they would pay a surcharge, to travel the road and would face a minimum $1.05 toll to ride any portion. Larger trucks and vehicles with trailers would pay higher rates.
The tolls are causing sticker shock for many who say that a daily commuter would pay about $3,000 a year in tolls.
Dernoga said state leaders are catering to commuters in Howard and Montgomery counties who do not want to use the Capital Beltway.
"People are already calling this the Prince George's Bypass," Dernoga told members of the transportation authority's board. "This is so people in their Lexuses can cut across the Intercounty Connector while going to work. That's what it's for."
Opponents noted that the toll rates are about 10 cents higher than what officials were telling leaders a few years ago.
"Your toll rates drove all this disinformation," said Greg Smith of Mount Rainier, whose nonprofit group, Community Research Inc., has opposed the road for environmental reasons. "This is a classic bait-and-switch."
Smith said that the state withheld actual costs of the project. The transportation authority should delay setting the rates in December until a full investigation is undertaken, he said. Because Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) championed the road project, that is not likely, he said.
"They should pull the plug right now," Smith said after addressing the board.
Others said the high proposed rates will undermine the overall goal of reducing traffic on local roads and the Beltway by pricing regular drivers out of traveling the ICC.
"If your goal is to alleviate traffic, this is not the way," said Del. Benjamin Barnes (D-Dist. 21) of College Park. "It's just too expensive."
Prince George's officials are asking the state to give a discount to residents who live near the highway.
Transportation officials did not address the opponents at the hearing, but blamed inflation for the altered toll rates.
"Those were in 2003," said Maryland Transportation Secretary Beverly K. Swaim-Staley during a break, although she said the proposed tolls still will keep cars from clogging nearby roads.
"The goal is to have a congestion-free highway," Swaim-Staley said. "If we need to adjust the toll in the future to do it, we'll do it."
The Maryland Transportation Authority is scheduled to approve the toll rates at a Dec. 17 meeting in Greenbelt.
