ICC trail detour

The gazette had some coverage of the proposed ICC trail detour prior to the July 10the Montgomery County Board Planning Meeting. History:

What Happened to the ICC Trail
MoCo looking to add ICC Trail back
ICC Fail
ICC Fail 2

The Gazette writes:

A master plan amendment would substitute detours along existing bikeways and sidewalks and a 3-mile unpaved trail in the Paint Branch area for segments that would have run through park land and closer to the course of the 18-mile road being built between Interstate 370 in Gaithersburg to Interstate 95 in Laurel.

The proposed changes, which have not been measured, could add roughly 50 percent more mileage to the bicycling route, said Charles Kines, a transportation planner and coordinator for the county Planning Department. A roughly 18-mile route could become 27 miles.

And the 3-mile unpaved trail would be usable only by hikers and riders of mountain bikes, horses or other animals.

‘‘We’re opposed to the amendment because it drastically weakens the trail,” said Jack Cochrane of Bethesda, chairman of Montgomery Bicycle Advocates, a group that focuses on using bicycles for transportation.

The Department of Parks, which, like the Department of Planning, is governed by the same five county park and planning commissioners, opposes running the bike route through park land they say is vulnerable to environmental degradation from even limited construction.

The only way to get through the Paint Branch area in an environmentally sound way is to build an elevated boardwalk and for that materials alone would cost $1.5 million, Kines said.

‘‘We’re obviously concerned about the environment but we’re talking about a trail next to a six-lane highway — to say a trail damages [that] environment is absurd,” Cochrane said.

The environmental groups see the trail as a distraction and are still fighting the road itself.

Comments

[Jack Cochrane]

The reporter was quite a bit mistaken as far as mileages. The problem in Montgomery County is as much the poor quality of the detours as it is their length. Here is the real scoop:

- The master-planned ICC route in Montgomery County, from Shady Grove Road to the county line, is 13.5 miles long (excluding west of Shady Grove Road where a trail was not planned).

- The trail detours identified by Planning staff on July 10 would replace 45% of this, or 6.2 miles, with roughly 8.7 miles of detour. It would bump up total MoCo trail length by 20% (not 50%). Worst of all, it would create a trail that is 55% detour (in Montgomery County) including a great many street/driveway crossings and even shopping center entrance crossings. One of the staff options does reduce the detours a bit (from 55% down to 47% of the route), but much more is needed.

- In Prince George's County, the detour around the ICC/I-95 interchange is very long. I don't have the numbers.

However, the MoCo Planning Department, under direction from the Planning Board (and thanks to cyclists' testimony!) is looking much more seriously now at eliminating a lot of the detour mileage. We are insisting that the original trail alignment not be removed from the master plan until an acceptable option is recommended. Stay tuned as always.

[Jack Cochrane]

The Planning Board is not debating any more. They've decided against the trail in Paint Branch Park except for the internally planned trail with surface TBD.