Highway connecting Gaithersburg to Ellicott City (Baltimore, Columbia: how much, neighborhoods, university)

[KittyRunner]

Really more of a Maryland history question than anything. Have there ever been any proposals to build a highway to connect the Gaithersburg area to Ellicott City or to expand route 108? There’s no quick way to get to the Ellicott City area from Rockville and Gaithersburg and it feels like there should be a highway there, but there isn’t. I’m guessing that due to the wealth of the area, any highway proposal would be sued out of existence. But has there ever been any talk or proposals of a highway in the area?

[bus man]

The ICC (Route 200) was originally supposed to have gone somewhat farther north to intersect I-95 somewhere around Laurel. Thus, it would have made a Gaithersburg-Ellicott City routing slightly less out-of-the-way. Not quite the same, I know, but it's vaguely related.

As to widening Route 108, I would love to see it done, but I don't know if there are any plans for it or not. When that road was built, I'm sure that no one imagined that commuting from Ellicott City to Gaithersburg (or Rockville, or Bethesda) would ever be a thing.

[DaveinMtAiry]

The ICC does about as well as you can expect. It goes right to Gaithersburg and heads directly east, you can't expect a highway to go to ever place so this is pretty close. Because it's there I don't see a need for another one but widening 108 would be nice.

[bus man]

Originally Posted by DaveinMtAiry

The ICC does about as well as you can expect. It goes right to Gaithersburg and heads directly east, you can't expect a highway to go to ever place so this is pretty close. Because it's there I don't see a need for another one but widening 108 would be nice.

The ICC actually heads east/southeast from Gaithersburg. If it had actually gone straight east, it would have intersected I-95 at around Route 216, which is about 4 miles to the north of where it actually does connect. Not a big deal, perhaps, though it would have been nice to be able to get that much closer to Baltimore before merging onto the ever-congested I-95.

It would be really helpful if they could modify Routes 28 and 108 into a more direct, four-lane divided highway (not necessarily an expressway) that would go in a more or less straight line from Rockville northeast to Clarksville and onward to U.S. 29 in between Columbia and Ellicott City. Don't know how high of a priority this would be in the state's transportation-planning circles (my guess is, not very high), but it sure would be nice for the not-inconsequential number of commuters between these locations.

[dkf747]

ICC to 29 is what you want if 95 is congested. Of course, 29 gets congested too. Someone from Gaithersburg could go a few miles north to 27 and go to 70 east if they don’t like 108. With so many options, I don’t see Maryland putting in a highway between Gaithersburg and the Baltimore area. Before the ICC, it was a pain, but since they built it, it’s been a good route.

[MidValleyDad]

The landed gentry of Montgomery County did a fantastic job during the 20th Century of making sure good roads were routed around their fiefdoms instead of through them. One reason I-270 is so congested and has no good work arounds is because there is no good road in the North to Northeast quadrant of the Washington Suburbs. 97 was not allowed to be developed as it should have been to handle through traffic. 27 comes south to Damascus then veers west and 108 veers east to avoid the estates that once existed in Central Montgomery County. The same goes for the area of MoCo called Potomac. No good arterial roads out from the beltway between the river and I 270, and (horrors that it should ever be considered) Never another Potomac River crossing! (Maybe extend 200 south of Darnestown to connect with VA-28?) MoCo money and political power kept any reasonable roads for the masses from happening.

[bus man]

Originally Posted by MidValleyDad

No good arterial roads out from the beltway between the river and I 270, and (horrors that it should ever be considered) Never another Potomac River crossing! (Maybe extend 200 south of Darnestown to connect with VA-28?) MoCo money and political power kept any reasonable roads for the masses from happening.

Here's what I'd like to see: the powers-that-be tell the people in Potomac that there is going to be built a four-lane highway linking the ICC with VA 28. The residents of the area have two options: (1) accept it; or (2) fork over the additional amount of money, over and beyond the cost of the highway, that would be required to build the entire thing underground.


Yeah, I know, I can dream . . .

[MidValleyDad]

Originally Posted by bus man

Here's what I'd like to see: the powers-that-be tell the people in Potomac that there is going to be built a four-lane highway linking the ICC with VA 28. The residents of the area have two options: (1) accept it; or (2) fork over the additional amount of money, over and beyond the cost of the highway, that would be required to build the entire thing underground.


Yeah, I know, I can dream . . .

The problem is 'The Powers that Be' are beholden to the people with money in Potomac. And Maryland is in a multi- generational fight about how to route traffic around DC. MD wants it to go around the East side. VA wants it to go around the west side (up thru Point of Rocks area) and the landowners on both sides of the river west of DC say NO WAY. So it wont get done in our lifetime.

[seanlax]

Originally Posted by MidValleyDad

One reason I-270 is so congested and has no good work arounds is because there is no good road in the North to Northeast quadrant of the Washington Suburbs.

Oh boy would you appreciate a history lesson. The Rockville Roller Coaster and 270 spurs were a compromise at the time, since there were literally zero good east-west roads. Hence why local streets were haphazardly upgrades to create most of East-West Highway. University Boulevard was it, and we both know that road does a **** poor job of being east-west OR north-south. Its janky as hell.

Right up until it was actually constructed, 495 was never to exist in the Kensington/Bethesda area; it was always supposed to be Rock Creek Parkway.

As for your gripe about outlying roads, often times they don't make sense on a flat map, but they make far more sense considering terrain, property owners and resources county residents have deemed worthy of conservation going on 100 years at this point.

[MidValleyDad]

Originally Posted by seanlax

Oh boy would you appreciate a history lesson. The Rockville Roller Coaster and 270 spurs were a compromise at the time, since there were literally zero good east-west roads. Hence why local streets were haphazardly upgrades to create most of East-West Highway. University Boulevard was it, and we both know that road does a **** poor job of being east-west OR north-south. Its janky as hell.

Right up until it was actually constructed, 495 was never to exist in the Kensington/Bethesda area; it was always supposed to be Rock Creek Parkway.

As for your gripe about outlying roads, often times they don't make sense on a flat map, but they make far more sense considering terrain, property owners and resources county residents have deemed worthy of conservation going on 100 years at this point.

I don't think I need a history lesson on Maryland roads. I was not talking about roads inside what is the current beltway. I'm talking about the roads that bring people into the area. Like 97 which was being slowly upgraded (with Federal assistance) during the Eisenhower administration since it was the alternate ground route to his farm in Gettysburg. Since the end of Ike's administration no progress was made unti Tropical Storm Agnes wiped out the Patapsco Valley. that rebuilding finally paved the last couple miles of State Rt 97 (one of the last state roads that was not paved) I don't think the infamous double 90 degree turn at Brookville has been fixed yet even though it provided the only access to a major Cold War Civil Defense facility (now a combination county park and development, I wonder if the multistory underground is still there?) all during the late 50s and 60s and 97 has been a major commute route into the Metro area since then. At least Md-32 and US-15 on either flank of the MoCo estate area had right of way bought back in the 50s and 60s (they finally started actually making Rt 32 4 lanes in the last decade) but similar arterial roads in MoCo did not have that level of forethought. Why didn't they get the same amount of prior planning that almost every other state road got in that era? And no there aren't any geography issues in that area, We have a lot more difficult concerns beginning at the Catoctin Ridges and near the bay where water crossings become a problem. Montomery, Howard and Carroll counties are straight forward roadbuilding country.


A big deal was made 30 years ago when MoCo helped fund the engineering that upgraded I-270 and how much the MoCo support saved the state. No one mentions that the engineering support was specified to only upgrade I-270 and not create other access routes through MoCo! Oh University Blvd is a good example of 'Money talks' It was routed around what were at the time affluent residential neighborhoods and thru areas where developers wanted to pick up bargains and build new (and profitable) neighborhoods.