Toll Lane Plans – and Big New Risks – Come into Focus

We can stop tracking billion-dollar breadcrumbs now. It’s certain: Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is committed to implementing what is basically Larry Hogan’s toll lane plan. See the latest updates below. Then read about the unprecedented risks posed by the toll lane projects at both ends of our Capital Beltway.

1.        On August 1, MDOT asked the Trump administration for a grant to build toll lanes starting from the George Washington Parkway inside VA, across the American Legion Bridge, and up I-495. The grant would cover an initial portion of Phase 1 of the Moore-Hogan toll lane plan (see map below); lower I-270 would be part of a later phase. Although MDOT’s two previous requests for federal grants were turned down – and Moore and Trump are currently in very public disagreement – we can’t necessarily assume the new request will also fail. See State Delegate Marc Korman’s take on the latest grant proposal here. Del. Korman is chair of the House Environment and Transportation Committee.

Portion of Moore-Hogan toll-lane plan covered by current grant application (p. 1).

2.        At the other end of the Beltway, Virginia continues pushing to extend its private toll lanes across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and into Prince George’s County, MD. Despite intense opposition to this Southside project from Maryland jurisdictions, MDOT has not said “No”. The DC region’s Transportation Planning Board will hold a critically important vote on the Southside project on October 15 (see Action Update, below).


Scope of Southside toll lane project into MD

 3.        Just as both these toll lane projects near crucial stages, Maryland is losing the measured approach of our soon-to-retire MDOT Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld. Sec. Wiedefeld is on record (22:12 to 23:27) strongly questioning public-private partnerships for large highway projects.

 

4.        Judgement is still pending in the Sierra Club/Natural Resources Defense Council/National Trust for Historic Preservation’s legal appeal of the I-495/I-270 toll lane plan.

Looming New Risks

What the Maryland public is facing – in two cases, two places – appears to be unprecedented in the United States: one state building what will likely be private toll lanes inside another state.

 

  • In Case 1, the Moore-Hogan plan would have Maryland construct a significant segment of toll lanes in Virginia to connect the VDOT/Transurban I-495 toll lanes to MDOT’s toll lanes over the American Legion Bridge.

  • In Case 2, the Southside plan would have Virginia building and operating private toll lanes over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and into Prince George’s County as far as Oxon Hill, MD.

  • In both cases, Virginia would effectively be moving its existing bottlenecks into Maryland.

MDOT is entering this unprecedented situation with no agreement in place to protect the Maryland public.

  • Maryland and Virginia appear to have created no formal bi-state toll lane agreements to address, at a minimum, how they will safeguard the public interest while navigating differences in their states’ regulatory, legal, financial, and governance requirements.

  • Without a public-protecting agreement, Maryland will be at huge risk and potentially significant disadvantage if/when MDOT heads into negotiations with Virginia and its for-profit partner.

  • Here are some of the reasons why: In Case 1 (the Moore-Hogan toll lanes), VDOT controls the underlying infrastructure, built the toll lanes that MDOT must connect to, and has the existing agreement with private partner Transurban. In Case 2 (the Southside toll lanes), VDOT has said at multiple information sessions that major issues will be decided in negotiations between VDOT and its contractor after the project is approved. MDOT apparently will not be at the table, even though the toll lanes will be built in Maryland.

 

Action Update: Stop These High-Risk Plans

A broad and growing advocacy coalition is actively opposing these toll lane plans that would limit – for generations – Maryland governors’ ability to make transportation policy in the public interest. As Sec. Wiedefeld said of such public-private partnerships for highways, “…you give up a lot of the ability to control the future…And you're doing it at a cost” (minutes 22:12 to 23:27).

 

Most immediately, our coalition and elected allies are focused on preventing approval of the Southside toll lane project at the DC region’s Transportation Planning Board meeting on October 15.

 

As we get closer to the October 15 vote, watch for action alerts from DontWiden270.org, telling how you can make your voice heard. Also, sign up for notifications from our trusted partners Citizens Against Beltway Expansion, the Maryland Sierra Club, the Coalition for Smarter Growth, and the Action Committee for Transit. Thank you!

 

Quick Action Alert: Stop Toll Lanes on the MD Beltway

Virginia wants to extend its private toll lanes onto I-495 in Maryland. Tell them ‘NO.’

The VA Department of Transportation (VDOT) is seeking regional and federal approval to extend its Southside toll lanes across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and onto I-495 in Prince George’s County, MD.

Our broad coalition of activists, advocacy organizations, and elected allies is strongly opposed to VDOT’s plan (see “Pushback,” below). We know that private toll lanes at either end of the Maryland Beltway will lead to private toll lanes everywhere on the Maryland Beltway and lower I-270 (see Item 1, below).

We need your help. By 6/26, tell VDOT you oppose Southside toll lanes

Email VDOT at 495southsideexpresslanes@VDOT.Virginia.gov by the comment deadline, Thursday, 6/26. Start your message with a clear statement of opposition. Then use your own words to tell why you don’t want VDOT’s private toll lanes in Maryland. Here are some key points:

  1. Where toll lanes end, new bottlenecks are created, and the only “fix” is to build more toll lanes. The Southside project will create a major new bottleneck in Oxon Hill, MD.

  2. If for-profit toll lane concessionaires get a toe-hold in Maryland, they will consume public funds and constrain public transportation policy for decades.

  3. Private toll lanes on the Beltway will bring unaffordable tolls and will worsen congestion in the free lanes and on adjacent roads.

  4. Private toll lanes will cause environmental damage and degradation of highway safety and public health.

  5. The Southside project could effectively end the chance of extending the Metro Blue Line across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and preclude other, better transportation options.

Pushback

These articles -- all published in the last few months – show that opposition to the Southside project is building. Your comments to VDOT advance the message!

Thank you!

Watch for more action alerts and updates as the Southside project nears an up-or-down regional vote this September.

TOLL LANE PROJECT IN 2025: NEITHER HERE NOR THERE

As best the public can tell, the status of the Hogan/Moore toll lane project at the start of the new year is this: Outcome uncertain, stakes remarkably high.

 

2025 will be the 8th year a MD governor uses taxpayer dollars to – at a minimum – keep the harmful, inequitable toll lane project alive. Despite dramatic state funding shortfalls and painful transportation cuts, the Moore administration’s latest Consolidated Transportation Plan still calls for $77 million for engineering for the I-495/I-270 project (p. 294).

 

On the one hand, and for multiple compelling reasons, the project seems increasingly unlikely to be implemented (see “On the Back of the Back Burner” below). On the other hand, as long as the plan remains officially part of the governor’s program, it poses serious risks the public can’t ignore (see “Big Opportunities for Bad Choices”).

Our coalition of activists, advocacy groups and elected allies continues to urge the Moore Administration to cancel the toll lane project and turn to smarter, more effective alternatives (see “Not Over ‘til it’s Over”).

The toll lane plan is on the back of the back burner. Why?

No money

“Moore and the legislature head into the 2025 session facing a five-year budget outlook that fiscal analysts have said includes billions of dollars in structural deficits.” Along with the operating budget deficit is a $1.3 billion cut over six years for transportation projects. As for federal funding, the Biden administration has twice denied MDOT’s request for grants for the toll lanes, including for the American Legion (AL) Bridge. Now there are concerns about the impact a second Trump administration could have on state finances.

 

Lack of credible plans

State Delegate Marc Korman, Chair of the House Transportation and Environment Committee, called on MDOT Sec. Wiedefeld to provide “a more realistic update on what's going on with the American Legion Bridge, 495 and 270.” Del. Korman said, “We've had six or seven years of unrealistic discussions…We're acting like we're still going to go forward with this full product…we need to talk about what it is we realistically want to do, what that realistically will cost and how that fits in with the life of the bridge and the roads…” (Consolidated Transportation Program Presentation,1:31:40).

Sec. Wiedefeld seemed to agree, at least in part: “Definitely on the American Legion Bridge, I think we should have a more detailed discussion and really talk realistically about what the future holds for [the bridge], both in terms of its immediate needs and then its future” (1:32:00). So far, no new discussions have been shared with the public.

 

No legal clarity

A strong legal appeal of the I-495/I-270 toll lane plan is awaiting final judgement this year. The appeal, filed by the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, says:

  • “Federal law requires that agencies thoroughly assess and candidly disclose a project’s damage to health, ecosystems, and historic sites before deciding whether to approve that project. Administrative law further requires that agencies consider all relevant factors, reasonably explain their decisions, and support their conclusions with record evidence” (p. 10).

  • “The Agencies [MDOT and the Federal Highway Administration] violated these fundamental duties when approving their plan to expand and add toll lanes to fifteen miles of I-495 (the Beltway) and I-270 near Washington, D.C…The Agencies’ briefs double down on these failures. They continue to ignore inconvenient facts, rely on inapposite analyses, and disregard the requirements of various federal laws” (p. 10).

From Maryland Matters, 1/2/25, House of Delegates file photo by Bruce DePuyt

The toll lane plan offers big opportunities for bad choices

The Governor could be pressured into a for-profit public-private partnership (P3).
Highway proponents, lobbyists and Virginia elected officials are urging Moore to extend toll lanes from Northern VA, across the AL Bridge, and onto Maryland I-495. As our advocacy coalition has been documenting for years (including here, here, and here), this would be a devastating move for Maryland’s residents, economy, governance, congestion-relief efforts, public health, equity, and environment.

If Moore gives in to the pressure, he’ll have little choice, funding-wise, but to try again for a P3. State officials have been clear about the dangers:

  • Transportation Sec. Wiedefeld has said re: P3s for complex projects: “…you give up a lot of the ability to control the future…And you're doing it at a cost. The reality is the taxpayers are still going to pay for it in some fashion…They [the private partners] are not giving the state money” (minutes 22:12 to 23:27).

  • State Comptroller Brooke Lierman said about the risks of P3s: “The Purple Line is a textbook case of why long-term transportation P3s can be so dangerous. At the end of the day, if there is a disagreement or the numbers no longer work for the private partner – it just walks away. And then, it is taxpayers and residents who suffer…”

MDOT could let VA’s Southside Project “slip” private toll lanes onto the MD Beltway.
The Moore Administration has not said the obvious “no” to Virginia’s proposal to put for-profit private toll lanes across the Wilson Bridge and onto the MD Beltway in Prince George’s County. This Southside Project would effectively end the chance of extending the Metro Blue Line across the bridge, and cause a major new traffic bottleneck at Oxon Hill, MD, where the toll lanes end. The only “solution” to toll lane-created bottlenecks, as we’ve seen in Northern VA, is to build more toll lanes, which create more bottlenecks, and on and on. If Moore allows this, he will leave future governors with an intractable problem and limited ability to stop private toll lane expansion around the Beltway.

The state could waste a billion on a problem that’s already been fixed.
Lower I-270 doesn’t need congestion relief: MDOT’s excellent Innovative Congestion Management System took care of it. But MDOT insists that construction of unneeded, unwanted toll lanes on lower I-270 (as opposed to upper I-270; see note*) remain part of the Regional Transportation Planning Board’s long-range plan. The nonsensical 2045 construction date can be moved up at any time. (*Note: An array of smart solutions for congestion on upper I-270 should have been a state priority years ago.)

It’s not over til it’s over!

Together we need to stay on top of these issues and do all we can to call attention to them. Please follow the newly-convening state legislature as it confronts the transportation funding shortfall. Maryland Matters is a good source for this news, as are newsletters from your district’s delegates and senator.

To find details about alternatives to toll lanes and to request updates and alerts, go to the websites of the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Action Committee for Transit, and the Coalition for Smarter Growth. Sign up for newsletters from Citizens Against Beltway Expansion and use the newsletter archive at DontWiden270.org to find more about specific toll lane issues.

And any chance you get, please urge our county and state officials to reject the harmful and inequitable toll lane plan. Thank you!