Kill the Bike Path; Save Our Environment!

Sarcasm alert on the posting title! 

The Washington Post reported yesterday that Montgomery County is considering eliminating portions of the planned bike trail alongside the Inter-County Connector (ICC) for "environmental reasons."  Give me a break!  Evidently I have been a bit asleep on this issue, as it's been debated and opined on for quite a while.  Here are some links:

WABA: ICC Trail: Your Help Needed Today!

The WashCycle has a very long and detailed posting on the issue:  ICC Fail and ICC Fail Part 2 and previously here: What Happened to the ICC Trail.  There was also a posting back in January after some sort of meeting: MoCo Looking to Add ICC Trail Back

And here's a notification from an organization I had not heard of before: The Montgomery Bicycle Advocates: ICC Trail Alert

The Washcycle post points out the most egregious contradiction.  Evidently the Environmental Impact Statement cites the bike trail as an environmental benefit of the project but now the county wants to eliminate parts of it because of its adverse environmental impact.  I don't think you can have it both ways.

All the gory details can be found on the Montgomery County Planning site here including testimony from the July 10 public meeting.

It's pretty clear in my mind that a decision to not build the entire trail is very short-sighted.  Although it is likely I would never or rarely use it, since it's not in my neck of the woods, on principle I adamantly support all efforts to build the entire length of the trail along the ICC.

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Steve Offutt, Arlington resident and bicyclist