Before it won federal approval last week, the debate on the campus about the Intercounty Connector bore a remarkable resemblance to the regional controversy that has surrounded the road during the last few decades.

While the University Commuters Association supported the road, believing it would ease the grinding Capital Beltway commute thousands of students and staff face each day, most city officials were staunchly opposed.

University officials were ambivalent, preferring instead to advocate for their own connector road that would link Interstate 495 with Comcast Center.

After dozens of studies, countless protests and a seemingly endless stream of political wrangling spanning nearly 50 years, an 18-mile stretch of highway is set to cut an east-west path from Interstate 270 to Route 1 north of Beltsville.

But what UCA President Jahantab Siddiqui supported so earnestly last year could return minimal benefits for staff and students, local and university officials said yesterday, and Siddiqui acknowledged many students would probably balk at the proposed $7 toll for round trips.

“I always supported the Intercounty Connector road,” Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson said in an interview yesterday following an economic forum at the Stamp Student Union. “I thought it helped not the Route 1 corridor – it helps [future Laurel-area development] Konterra.”

County Councilman Thomas Dernoga, who represents the council district that will host the Route 1 section of the connector, said any reduced commuting times for traveling students would probably be offset by the increased traffic on Route 1.

“You can get to the traffic jam quicker, but the jams will be bigger,” Dernoga said. “I don’t think it’s close enough to have a significant impact” for students.

The highway will lie about seven miles north of the entrance to the campus, more than doubling the distance most students now travel after exiting Interstate 495 in North College Park.

For commuter students, the road will be a new option, Vice President for Administrative Affairs John Porcari said, “but it’s geared toward regional travel” rather than carrying drivers toward the university.

Porcari, a former Secretary of Transportation under former Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening, said university officials took no position on the ICC because they view a road that would link the Beltway with Comcast Center as “the single most important thing” that would ease travel for the campus visitors.

A study for the road to Comcast began early this year, despite vehement opposition by city officials and most of District 21 delegation that represents the area in Annapolis. Of the delegation, only state Sen. John Giannetti (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) supports funding for the road.

But Dernoga said projects such as the ICC and the University Connector road, which is nicknamed “Terrapin Parkway,” divert funding and attention from other projects, such as Route 1 redevelopment, which College Park city officials have lobbied about for several years.

“I’m of the opinion that they should stop wasting their time on this Terrapin Parkway and try to use the corridor they already have,” Dernoga said, referring to Route 1. “John Porcari and I have had some interesting battles.”

Siddiqui, a junior government and politics major, said his support has become less enthusiastic for the ICC after learning about high tolls, but believed there was still a benefit for university staff and students.

“It will not have as much of an impact if university affiliated people are going to use it, but to some extent, it will take traffic off [Interstate] 495,” he said. “Traffic there is outrageous.”

The disputes concerning both connector roads, compounded by spirited debates about allowing city residents to use Shuttle-UM system and the widening of Kenilworth Avenue to make room for the university’s massive M-Square research park highlight the role transportation issues could play in local elections this November.

But for students enrolled at the university now, any decisions made on transportation projects are not likely to affect commutes anytime soon. The ICC is set for completion in 2010, and Porcari has said the mere completion of a study on a university connector road would take at least two years.

Contact reporter Kevin Litten at littendbk@gmail.com.