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The Maryland Transportation Authority has set the initial tolls for the Intercounty Connector's first segment at the low end of a proposed fee range, but a Montgomery County Council member says the initial range should not have been set so high in the first place.

The decision by authority Executive Secretary Ronald Freeland had been expected for months. The authority will charge 25 cents per mile at peak periods for cars and trucks on the initial 5.6-mile stretch of the ICC between Interstate 370 and Georgia Avenue when it opens later this year or early next year, Freeland announced Friday. The one-way toll will be $1.45 during peak times, which will be Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Last year, the board had proposed peak rates in the 25- to 35-cent range.

Off-peak tolls will be 20 cents per mile, and overnight will be 10 cents per mile. Overnight is from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily.

Councilman Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg called the initial toll range "outrageously high."

"That is going to price many people off the road, which undermines whatever traffic relief it could provide," Andrews said Monday. "This undermines the goal of traffic relief, which was how the ICC was sold to the public."