A hiking and biking trail meant to run along the route of the Intercounty Connector should parallel the highway as closely as possible, county residents argued at a meeting in Derwood last week.

Jack Cochrane, chair of Montgomery Bicycle Advocates, said he does not think the trail would work unless it directly follows the ICC, the $2.4 billion, 18-mile toll road that will connect Interstate 270 in Gaithersburg to Interstate 95 in Laurel.

‘It will not be as convenient and it will not be as direct,” he said.

When the State Highway Administration published its final plan for the ICC in May 2006, it recommended 7 miles of the 18-mile trail be built as part of the highway. A bicycle and pedestrian plan identified a route for the trail’s remaining 11 miles along parallel roads or within parkland, but avoiding environmentally sensitive areas, Chuck Kines, bikeways coordinator for county Park and Planning, said.

The detours ‘‘undermine the value of the trail” because they follow major roads such as New Hampshire Avenue and neighborhood streets, Cochrane said.

Some of the 40 residents at the April 2 meeting were concerned the proposed route might be dangerous.

‘‘These roads are very high volume and not suitable for bicyclists,” said Chuck Fenimore, a member of the Gaithersburg Bicycle⁄Pedestrian Advisory Committee.

The meeting was the second of two community forums designed to gather feedback on how to fill in the trail’s gaps.

Planners and representatives from several county agencies are developing a comprehensive bikeway plan amendment to two county master plans, the 2005 Countywide Bikeways Functional Master Plan and the 1998 Countywide Park Trails Plan.

Many participants said they would like to see lanes on the highway devoted to bicyclists or lanes removed from the highway to accommodate them.

But a six-lane roadway is needed for vehicles, Dan Hardy, acting transportation planning chief for Park and Planning, said.

Kines said planning staff hopes to present preliminary recommendations to the Planning Board in May. The board will hold a public hearing and worksessions on the draft in June and then transmit its recommendations to the County Council.