Md. Approves Intercounty Connector Route

Federal, State Hurdles Remain for $2.4 Billion Highway

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) announced yesterday that Maryland wants to build an east-west highway across the Washington suburbs along a southern route that has been on planning maps for decades, despite the political, legal and environmental challenges that have dogged the project.

Standing on a grassy patch just south of the proposed route at Veirs Mill Road and Route 28, Ehrlich nodded to a small gathering of opponents and declared that "the vocal minority has won for too long. Today, the view of the vast majority finally wins."

Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan said, "We will begin construction next year."

The 18-mile, $2.4 billion road, known as the intercounty connector, would be the most expensive new highway project in the Washington region and the first major road in the area in a generation. The six-lane highway would cut through a mixture of parkland and residential communities between the Interstate 270 and Interstate 95 corridors in Montgomery and Prince George's counties and claim approximately 58 homes in its path.

The communities along the chosen route include Shady Grove, Norbeck, Longmead, Drumeldra Hills and Fairland. The connector also would cross through Rock Creek, Northwest Branch and Paint Branch parks.

The "master plan" route selected by Ehrlich is the same one that was rejected by the federal government in 1997 as part of a required environmental review. The Environmental Protection Agency expressed concern that it would destroy parkland and wetlands, disrupt migratory birds and threaten a spawning area for brown trout.

Ehrlich said yesterday that the state would address those concerns by building bridges over sensitive areas, using advanced technology to manage storm water runoff and narrowing the road in some sections. State officials said they would also replace every acre of parkland with five acres elsewhere and spend $262 million to make environmental improvements in the areas around the highway.

The governor said, "We're confident this decision will be upheld by the federal government," which still must approve the project.

The state rejected an option that would have taken the highway north of Route 198, closer to Howard County, because it involved more significant environmental challenges and a greater impact on neighborhoods.

People who live along the chosen path in Montgomery said the selection of a route made the highway real for many who had been skeptical it would ever be built.

Amit Gessese, 44, said she and her husband, Yishak Tessema, 40, reviewed plans for the connector before they bought their townhouse in Longmead Crossing six years ago. But they weren't worried because planning officials told them, " 'It's not going to happen, because they've been talking about it for 20 or 30 years,' " Gessese said.

But Gessese said she has grown more concerned in the past year, as talk of building the connector intensified.