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J.R. 14
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2002 JOINT RESOLUTIONS
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including BWI Airport, the Port of Baltimore, the University System of Maryland,
and other key regional and statewide facilities; and
WHEREAS, The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments has
identified a growing transportation "crisis" in the region, despite years of sustained
effort and investment by State and local governments to reduce vehicle demand
through improved transit service, carpooling incentives, concentration of development
around transit stations, employment policies favorable to flex-time schedules and
teleworking, and other demand-reduction measures; and
WHEREAS, The Intercounty Connector (ICC) and other road and transit
improvements throughout the region would serve to better connect the region and the
many venues being proposed in the Baltimore-Washington region's Olympics bid for
2012; and
WHEREAS, The ICC has been on both Montgomery and Prince George's
counties' Master Plans for over 30 years; and
WHEREAS, The Master Plan Alignment of the ICC is consistent with
Maryland's Smart Growth laws because it links major job and population centers
within existing priority funding areas, and all of its exits serve existing priority
funding areas; and
WHEREAS, Montgomery County's and Prince George's County's original
"wedges and corridors" General Plans, developed in the 1960's, identify the ICC as a
critical east-west connection to support planned growth within the I-270 and I-95
corridors; and
WHEREAS, The Metropolitan Washington Council of Government's current
Vision Plan for the Washington Region calls for improved circumferential links
between the region's major corridors as one of the region's top transportation
objectives; and
WHEREAS, The last Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the ICC
was abandoned in 1997 before reaching any final conclusions on alternatives, and
without completing the required steps identified in the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA); and
WHEREAS, Abandoning the DEIS has left many key questions unanswered,
including whether or not environmental impacts could be mitigated or avoided, and
has led to no resolution under NEPA of a critical public facility issue; and
WHEREAS, According to the 1997 DEIS, the ICC on the Master Plan Alignment
would provide a critical link between the I-270 and I-95 corridors, and "substantially
reduce congestion," diverting up to 15,000 cars per day from the Capital Beltway and
nearly 80,000 per day from congested neighborhood roads and arterial highways; and
WHEREAS, Alternative east-west routes on the Master Plan Alignment,
including alternatives to upgrade existing roads, were found in the DEIS to be less
effective than the ICC in meeting east-west transportation demands, cause equal or
greater environmental damage, and result in more disruptions to established
communities and more displacements of existing businesses and residences; and
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- 4360 -
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