Icc

They gathered before dawn in a hotel parking lot, determined to prove themselves right. A former state senator. The one-time leader of Maryland's most populous county. Several local business owners. Would the Intercounty Connector, Maryland's most expensive highway, be everything they had promised the public over decades of debate and planning? To answer the question Tuesday morning, just hours after the road opened, these pillars of the community staged a road rally of sorts, pitting two time-honored Gaithersburg-to-Laurel routes against the new highway.

Reporters are by no means immune to forming opinions about issues they cover. We can't help it. But usually, unless we also write columns, we keep those opinions out of the public eye. On one issue I've covered for more than a decade now, it's been impossible to form a firm opinion. Had I been seated on the jury deciding whether the Intercounty Connector should have been built, I'd be the guy on the lonely end of an 11-1 vote on either verdict. Either way, it will be a personal milestone as well as one for all of Maryland next week when the state opens the first 5.5-mile leg of the long-desired, long-reviled, long-disputed toll road that will eventually link the technology-rich Interstate 270 corridor with Interstate 95. Weather permitting, the first traffic will be allowed on the stretch of road between Interstate 370 (a spur off I-270)

An engineering study of the year-old Intercounty Connector has concluded that the speed limit on the highway between Gaithersburg and Laurel could be raised from 55 mph to 60 mph so long as an analysis of crash data finds no safety concerns. The accident review of the $2.5 billion all-electronic toll road is expected to be completed by the end of February, after which time the Maryland Transportation Authority will make a decision. "We said we wanted to have a year's worth of experience, and we've got that now," said Harold Bartlett, the authority's executive director.

A guy who's just won his second term as governor of Maryland after twice getting himself elected mayor of Baltimore probably doesn't have much need for amateur political advice. But what the heck. Here goes anyway. Now that Martin O'Malley has won his second term as governor, he is assured of being the man with the scissors at the opening of the first section of the $2.5 billion Intercounty Connector late this year or early next. It will be a great moment in the sun for the governor.

Speed-limit signs on the Intercounty Connector will be changed from 55 mph to 60 mph at the end of the week, the Maryland Transportation Authority announced Wednesday. The 18.8-mile, all-electronic toll road connects Interstate 270 in Gaithersburg to I-95 in Laurel. Weather permitting, westbound signs will be changed on Friday followed by eastbound signs on Saturday. In addition, warning signs will be added for curves. Motorists and state lawmakers have complained since the $2.56 billion highway opened in 2011 that the speed was set too low. The higher limit will shave about 90 seconds on a full-length drive, MdTA officials said.

When the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (now properly known as the William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge) opened in 1952, motorists paid $2.80 for a round-trip. Had that Opening Day toll been tied to inflation, the same commute would cost $23.61 today. That's one perspective on the Maryland Transportation Authority's proposed toll increases, which would raise the Bay Bridge toll from $2.50 to $8 and double tolls on other MdTA facilities, including the Baltimore Harbor crossings. Here's another: The state borrowed too heavily to build the Intercounty Connector and now motorists everywhere are going to be penalized for that mistake.

Neither Maryland nor the federal government can afford to throw away $3 billion or more on an ineffective public works project. But that's exactly what Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan and other politicians from both parties will do if they proceed with the Intercounty Connector. The ICC would drain funding from many sources. Governor Ehrlich proposes to issue nearly $2 billion in public debt, a figure that would increase with rising construction costs.

Prince George's County Council members say officials overseeing construction of the Intercounty Connector are penalizing the county by canceling or changing more of its environmental projects than those in Montgomery County. ICC officials said they plan to cut some previously required environmental projects and to reclassify others because the highway's final design ended up sparing almost a mile more of streams and 30 more acres of wetlands and forests than they had expected, leaving less environmental damage for them to offset.

Free test drives will end this weekend on the newly opened Intercounty Connector, which links Interstate 370 in Gaithersburg to Interstate 95 in Laurel. Beginning at 12:01 a.m. Monday, motorists will pay tolls based on peak and non-peak use. Drivers without an E-ZPass transponder will receive a bill in the mail for 150 percent of the rate. The Beltsville Motor Vehicle Administration office will be open Saturday and Dec. 10, from 8:30 a.m. to noon, for E-Zpass registration. Preliminary figures released by the Maryland Transportation Authority show that in the first 10 days, the older section of ICC, from I-370 to Georgia Avenue, averaged 48,340 vehicles each day while the newer section between U.S. 29 and I-95 averaged 37,867 vehicles.

This week's hastily arranged and protester-laden press conference by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. announcing federal approval of the Intercounty Connector was a fitting milestone for a project that's been plagued by controversy. Several generations of Montgomery County leaders have been talking about developing an east-west commuter corridor. Now, it seems to be just a matter of months before construction begins. That's good news, right? So why does it all seem a bit anticlimactic? Perhaps it's because the criticisms raised by protesters like those at Tuesday's announcement are not without merit.