The Outer Beltway: The bad idea that won’t go away
Photo by rjcox on Flickr.
The Intercounty Connector just opened, but its $2.6 billion price, plus debt costs, have left Maryland’s transportation budget in shambles. Worse, according to studies conducted prior to construction, the ICC won’t even relieve traffic on the Beltway and Interstates 95 and 270.
Nonetheless, many ICC proponents have moved on to pushing for a full Outer Beltway — a second ring highway around the Washington region that was first envisioned in the 1950s. Think Houston, which is now working on its third ring.
This might sound good in the abstract. After all, everyone knows traffic in the region is bad. But another Beltway would make our problems worse, not better.
Why?
Continue reading in my latest op-ed in the Washington Post.