Maryland Route 200
Maryland Route 200, also known as the Intercounty Connector or ICC, is an controlled-access toll road in the U.S. state of Maryland. It connects Gaithersburg in Montgomery County and Laurel in Prince George's County, both of which are suburbs of Washington, D.C. The ICC was one of the most controversial Maryland road projects; opposition to the highway stalled the project for decades, and construction did not begin until 60 years after the highway's initial approval.
The highway was originally proposed in 1950, was in length, and part of the Washington Outer Beltway. While other parts of the Outer Beltway were canceled, the ICC and the Fairfax County Parkway remained on master plans. The road's long history as an unbuilt proposed road stems from the controversy that has surrounded it over the years, including the cost of about $2.38 billion to complete the highway and related environmental mitigation.
Proponents of the highway claimed that it would improve the flow of interregional traffic, relieve traffic congestion on local roads, spur economic development, and enhance access to Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Opponents of the highway claimed that the road would instead harm significant traffic flow characteristics, harm the environment, and disrupt established communities through which it passes. They also argued that "environmental degradation would immediately occur from the construction, long-term consequences."
Fulfilling a 2002 campaign promise, Governor Robert Ehrlich pushed to begin construction of the road and conducted a formal groundbreaking in October 2006. With additional support from his successor, Governor Martin O'Malley, construction began on November 13, 2007. The first segment, from Interstate 370 to MD 28, opened on February 23, 2011, while the extension to I-95 opened on November 22, 2011. The final segment to U.S. Route 1 opened on November 7, 2014. MD 200 uses all-electronic tolling, with tolls payable through E-ZPass or Video Tolling.
Route description
MD 200 begins at a trumpet interchange with MD 200A, which heads south to provide access to Shady Grove Road and the Shady Grove station serving Washington Metro's Red Line, near Gaithersburg in Montgomery County; west of this interchange the freeway continues as I-370 toward MD 355 and I-270. Several new ramps and collector-distributor roads were built between this interchange and MD 355. MD 200 continues northeast from there as a six-lane freeway through Redland Station, turning east to pass over Shady Grove Road, and then under Redland Road, paralleling Mill Creek. This is the location of the eastbound toll gantry. MD 200 shortly curves to the east on the approach to the six-lane overpass for Olde Mill Run, which was built wide enough for a fourth lane in the eastbound direction. The Olde Mill Run overpass is the only section of MD 200 with full shoulders on each side. After the overpass, MD 200 turns southeast, passing over Rock Creek and the Upper Rock Creek Trail and under Needwood Road, before turning sharply back to the east as it passes under MD 115. The route, now running slightly to the southeast, begins the approach to MD 97. MD 200 then turns more eastward, running towards North Branch Stream Valley Park and passing over the North Branch Rock Creek and a second stream over a bridge. This is the location of the westbound toll gantry. The route enters the Norbeck area and passes under Emory Lane. Just east of there is where a hybrid cloverleaf interchange with MD 97 is located. A park and ride lot serving MTA Maryland commuter buses is located southwest of this interchange along MD 97. When the road opened in February 2011, it temporarily came to an end at a traffic light located just east of MD 97 at MD 28.The route then curves southeastward, passing under MD 28 and Longmead Crossing Drive, running parallel to Wintergate Drive/Park Vista Drive. MD 200 then curves slightly more eastward toward Aspen Hill, where the freeway intersects MD 182, shortly after entering the Northwest Branch Recreational Park. The route travels through the park for a stretch, bridging the Northwest Branch Anacostia River three times, exits the park, and then turns eastward, passing under Notley Road. MD 200 then turns slightly to the northeast near Colesville and meets MD 650 at a single-point urban interchange.
MD 200 then continues eastward, passes through Upper Paint Branch Park and bridges several creeks, including the namesake Paint Branch, and passes between several neighborhoods upon exiting the park. The route then passes under Old Columbia Pike with no access to this local road. Just beyond, MD 200 reaches a large interchange with US 29, combining cloverleaf and stack elements. This interchange also adds connections to Fairland Road with both MD 200 and US 29. The route continues eastward, featuring a partial interchange with Briggs Chaney Road, and then, just after crossing the border into Prince George's County, it passes over the Little Paint Branch just south of the Fairland Recreational Park. The route then passes under Old Gunpowder Road.
The route then enters Calverton, where the expansive interchange with I-95 is located. The interchange, marked as Exit 31 on I-95, is mostly a cloverleaf hybrid, and features several collector-distributor roads built along I-95, stretching from Old Gunpowder Road south of the interchange to MD 198 north of it. The community of Konterra is planned for construction near this interchange.
Beyond I-95, MD 200 narrows to four lanes. MD 200 curves sharply, first to the south then to the east, and meets a diamond-interchange providing access to Konterra Drive. MD 200 then turns gradually to the southeast and ends at a continuous flow intersection at US 1 in Beltsville.
MD 200 is a part of the main National Highway System for its entire length.
Tolls
The Intercounty Connector uses all-electronic tolling, with tolls payable through E-ZPass or Video Tolling, which uses automatic license plate recognition. ICC users without E-ZPass are mailed a bill to pay the toll along with a 50% surcharge for non-E-ZPass use. The tolls along the full length of the road vary by time of day, ranging from $1.60 overnight to $3.20 in off-peak daytime, and $4 at rush hour. Tolls were waived along the road between February 23 and March 7, 2011, and again between November 22 and December 4, 2011.History
Washington Outer Beltway
The Intercounty Connector can be traced to plans developed in the 1950s for the proposed Washington Outer Beltway. The original Outer Beltway had been planned to pass south of the corporate limits of the City of Rockville. The original proposed routing was south and east of the current alignment. The new route was motivated in part by a desire to move the routing of the proposed bridge over the Potomac River upstream from the area of River Bend to Watkins Island. Virginia residents and the United States Department of the Interior objected to the proposed bridge over the Potomac River because they wanted to create state and federal parks along the river in order to protect sugar maple trees, vegetation, and bald eagles. Because of these concerns, the Maryland State Roads Commission moved the proposed Outer Beltway to a route north of Rockville and eliminated a new bridge crossing the Potomac River.The Montgomery County Planning Board accepted the state's newly proposed route in 1970, but the Montgomery County Council rejected it, and Prince George's County and Virginia dropped it from their plans. In 1975, the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments endorsed a request from the State Highway Administration "for federal support of a $1.1 million planning and engineering study of the first segment of the road", which was to "run from the Baltimore-Washington Parkway near Beltsville westward to a point near Interstate Rte 70S at Gaithersburg." By 1976, Maryland's Secretary of Transportation no longer supported state financial support of the Outer Beltway, although Montgomery County still supported it in concept.
Initial Intercounty Connector plan
In 1980, the state of Maryland dropped the Washington Outer Beltway from its plans except for the Intercounty Connector. Meanwhile, the State Highway Administration was studying constructing a Intercounty Connector with a spur called the Rockville Facility.After six days of public workshops, the Maryland State Highway Administration released its first report about the Intercounty Connector and the Rockville Facility in January 1980. The majority of participants supported the highway, although almost everyone said they would prefer building more east–west public transportation instead.
In 1983, the federal National Capital Planning Commission formally requested that the eastern end of the Intercounty Connector be shortened by so that the eastern terminus of the road would be at I-95 rather than the Baltimore–Washington Parkway. In 1984, Maryland Secretary of Transportation Lowell K. Bridwell designated land in Montgomery and Prince George's counties as the future site of the Intercounty Connector so that the right-of-way would be preserved, even though Montgomery County Executive Charles W. Gilchrist had voiced very critical comments about the Intercounty Connector as it was envisioned in 1983—at least in part because he felt that construction of the ICC by the year 2000 was "infeasible", and advocated construction of a "shorter and less-costly" east–west highway instead.
Prior to Governor Parris N. Glendening declaring the Intercounty Connector "dead" before leaving office in January 2003, two environmental impact studies had been conducted, the first being a draft document in 1983. In 1977, the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center expressed concerns about the impact that the ICC would have on its experiments. An initial environmental study was undertaken in the late 1970s, and extended into the 1980s, with a draft published in 1983. A second study was initiated around 1992, and a draft environmental impact statement was issued in 1997. The final environmental impact statement was drafted by 1989 but did not receive federal approval, leading to the abandonment of the study until a new study began in 1992; the 1992–1997 study pointed to a similar conclusion, though it was never completed. By 1997, millions of dollars had been spent on planning and preliminary engineering, but the only segments of the road that had been built were I-370 between I-270 and the Shady Grove Metrorail station on WMATA's Red Line.