With Obstacles Overcome, Highway Work Begins
Quietly, Barriers and Dirt Emerge at Scattered Sites

By Katherine Shaver
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 29, 2007

In the past few weeks, the shoulder of Interstate 370 in Gaithersburg has disappeared behind concrete barriers. A few miles away, along Redland Road in Derwood, a half-dozen bulldozers have started clearing trees and moving mounds of dirt. On Georgia Avenue just south of Olney, a portable bathroom and orange barrels have sprouted in the torn-up median.

Each construction site looks like the roadwork that Washington area drivers are accustomed to. But this project is anything but typical.

After 50 years of debate, the six-lane, 18.8-mile intercounty connector is being built. Major work at the three locations in central Montgomery County began Nov. 13, after the state won a court ruling against several environmental groups that tried to block the highway. The $2.4 billion toll-road is scheduled to open in segments beginning in 2010, with completion by 2012.

Construction kicked off with little fanfare in a seven-mile stretch between Interstate 370 and Georgia Avenue (Route 97).

"This is the beginning," said Melinda Peters, the Maryland State Highway Administration's director for the connector project. "This is in very localized areas. [Motorists and residents] will obviously be seeing more significant construction soon."

Construction got off to a sluggish start because of a series of rainy days that turned work sites into muddy messes, and it will proceed slowly during the winter, Peters said. The pace will pick up as the weather turns warmer, she said.

Still, motorists and central Montgomery residents are beginning to see plenty of signs that work is underway, as the highway is built in pieces that will someday link Gaithersburg and Laurel. The contract for the first, westernmost section was awarded at $478.7 million.

On I-370, two bridges are being widened near where the intercounty connector will link up with the I-270 corridor. Crews also are beginning to clear trees near Shady Grove Road, Peters said.

At Redland Road, workers are building a detour road to be used when Redland is rebuilt over the connector. That includes clearing brush and trees near Needwood Road.

Heading farther east on Redland, the Derwood neighborhood of Cashell Estates sits half-empty, with houses that the state bought to condemn for the highway's path. One house is boarded up, and workers recently removed asbestos from another so it could be bulldozed.

On Georgia Avenue, orange barrels between Norbeck Road (Route 28) and Emory Lane are allowing workers to build a road in the median. Traffic will be shifted there, Peters said, when Georgia is rebuilt over the connector. Tree clearing has also begun in the area, to make way for at least one trailer that will serve as the project's field office.

At open houses last month, residents were told to expect construction between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. weekdays, though some weekend and holiday work might occur. Trucks are restricted to state roads, state officials said, and overnight work will be governed by tighter noise restrictions.

Bulldozers rumbling adjacent to Redland now greet Tom Parker when he arrives for work at Shady Grove Presbyterian Church. Parker, a pastor, said church officials still don't know how construction will affect the church's entrance and parking for its 400 members.

"We're just going to deal with it," Parker said. "It will probably be a headache like any construction near you, but they're not springing it on us. We knew it was coming."

Others nearby say they're worried that their traffic headaches will become full-fledged migraines as motorists are rerouted during construction.

Pat Labuda, president of the Greater Shady Grove Civic Alliance, said the group still hopes that another legal challenge, or Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), will stop the highway, though the governor has repeatedly promised to build it.

She said the alliance's members, mostly homeowners associations in Derwood, are more worried about living with a six-lane highway than enduring construction.

"Construction comes and goes, and it's a limited period of time," Labuda said. "The bigger problem is when people are stuck with an outer Beltway right outside their door."

State officials said motorists and residents will be notified of major construction-related traffic changes via the news media and at the Web site http://www.iccproject.com. Anyone with questions or concerns can reach the project hotline at 866-462-0020 or send an e-mail via the Web site.

Work will soon get underway on the highway's eastern section. Last week, highway officials announced they had awarded a $513.9 million contract to a joint venture of five companies to design and build four miles of the connector, from Colesville Road (Route 29) to east of I-95. Major construction in that area is scheduled to begin early next year.