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.

Continue the conversation about urbanism in the Washington region and support GGWash’s news and advocacy when you join the GGWash Neighborhood!

Tagged: outer beltway, roads

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.