The first phase of the InterCounty Connector will open to traffic on February 22. The ICC will be an interstate-quality highway eventually running from Gaithersburg to Laurel, although this first phase only runs from Gaithersburg to Georgia Avenue. Here’s what opens this month:

The red line is the ICC. The only exit will be at Georgia Avenue.

Until the second phase opens sometime in 2012, the stub-end ICC will be a shuttle between Gaithersburg and Olney, with no intermediate exits except the one for Shady Grove Metro that already exists.

Looking at the map, I’m struck at how much easier the Gaithersburg-Olney trip will become for drivers. Although they’re close geographically, the I-270 and Georgia Avenue corridors are worlds apart psychologically. The ICC will stitch them together.

Thus the ICC’s central conflict: By stitching together the rapidly-growing, jobs-heavy I-270 corridor with the slower-growing, jobs-light eastern suburbs, the ICC will divert growth east causing densification of areas that long ago suburbanized, which in turn will result in less sprawl up I-270. On the other hand, the ICC is a new highway and like all new highways, it will induce more driving. VMT will go up even if sprawl slows down, because the ICC makes suburb-to-suburb travel so much easier.

And then there’s the cost. Maryland took out huge bonds to pay for the ICC, which will have to be repaid with interest, resulting in dramatically less money for future projects. Indeed, the cost of the ICC is a direct reason why Maryland is so reliant on Federal funds that may never come for the Purple Line, Corridor Cities Transitway, and Baltimore Red Line.

So at the end of the day, the ICC is a really expensive way to slow down sprawl a little bit, but to increase traffic while doing so. It’s far from the worst highway that’s ever been built (it’s probably on the more benign end of the scale, in fact), but it’s also far from the most efficient way for Maryland to have spent its limited dollars. Other projects in other places could have slowed down sprawl *and* reduced traffic, at less cost.

More information about the impending Phase 1 opening is available at the ICC website. Thanks to froggie for the heads up.