ICC is a costly mistake

The Sun's article lauding the opening of the Intercounty Connector ("Drivers rejoice as ICC debuts," Nov. 23) quotes failed governor wannabe Douglas Duncan, "I think people will find it is worth it." If anyone really believed it was worth it, they would have charged a toll that would pay for it. The Sun neglected to mention whether its readers felt the ICC was worth paying doubled tolls on the Baltimore harbor tunnels, the Bay Bridge, and the Susquehanna River bridges.

Is flying out of Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport worth it? How long could we have instead used that $2.56 billion to helicopter people to BWI? The highway will speed (at only 55 mph) trucks to Montgomery County — although a trucking firm recently told the Washington Post it planned to stick to the Capital Beltway because the ICC isn't worth it.

The environmental damage glossed over when then-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. got his buddy George W. Bush to ram through a quickie Environmental Impact Statement is done. What is only starting is the transformation of the semi-rural and suburban area it passes though into intensely developed urbanized sprawl.

Building roads to reduce congestion is a delusion. Interstate 70 is backed up morning and night from Frederick and has vastly worsened traffic on the Baltimore Beltway, as has I-795. Interstate 95 and Route 29 are ready immobile. What will happen when the ICC dumps on them?

James Kelly, Ellicott City