MDOT Suddenly Changes the “Preferred Alternative” for Toll Lanes

MDOT Reveals a “New” Plan, and Toll Setting Gets Started

Back on January 27, 2021, the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) disclosed that they had selected Alternative 9 from among the build options as their preferred alternative for widening I-495 and I-270. Alternative 9 was a high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes network that added two HOT- managed lanes in each direction on I-495 and I-270.

Then, less than 4 months later, on May 12th, MDOT announced that their recommended preferred alternative (RPA) would now consist of only Phase 1 South. The new RPA focuses solely on building a new American Legion Bridge (ALB) and creating two HOT lanes in each direction on the ALB and I-270 to I-370. On I-270, the RPA proposes adding one HOT- managed lane and converting the existing high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane into an HOT- managed lane. There will be no action at this time on I-495 east of the I-270 eastern spur. Find out what’s wrong with MDOT’s latest RPA in the sections below on Phase 1 South, Cost Concerns, and More Highway Widening.

The Phase 1 South toll rate range setting process was presented to the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) Board on May 20, 2021. The meeting video can be played here; the Phase 1 range setting process discussion begins at 2:07:00. Relevant meeting documents can be found in tabs 11-12 (pp. 60-154) and the MDTA press release. The MDTA Board voted to move forward with the process, including public hearings on the tolling proposal. Written public comments and call-in testimony will be accepted for the official record from May 20 through August 12, 2021. Dontwiden270.org will provide further information when it becomes available.

Action Item

Your emails and letters to public officials and others about widening I-270 and I-495 have been powerful and had considerable impact. Thanks to all of you who wrote to the Metropolitan Washington Transportation Planning Board (TPB) as requested in the Urgent Action Alert in our last newsletter. Your comments led the TPB to ask the Federal authorities for a 6 month extension to allow more time to study the complex issues involved.

Please continue to write and phone and keep the pressure on key people and agencies to stop this poorly conceived project.

If you haven’t already done so, write Comptroller Peter Franchot care of Emily Gontrum at egontrum@marylandtaxes.gov and/or call Comptroller Franchot at 301-332-1961 and leave a voice mail or text. Comptroller Franchot is the deciding vote when the Maryland Board of Public Works (BPW) votes on contracts associated with the P3 project. He is running for Governor. Tell him that no P3 agreement should be voted on until the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) is completed. And be sure to say that if the project is approved, Maryland taxpayers could be stuck with hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses and future costs.

New Recommended Preferred Alternative for Phase 1 South

The new RPA focuses solely on a new ALB and two HOT-managed lanes in each direction on the ALB and I-270 to I-370. I-495 east of I-270 is off the table for now; however, MDOT has made clear that “the RPA does not suggest that improvements will not be needed on the top side and east side of I-495. If the new RPA is selected at the conclusion of the Managed Lane Study, consideration of improvements to remaining parts of the interstate system would advance separately…”

The project has been scaled back. But as eloquently expressed in a Sierra Club Statement: “This project is fundamentally flawed and has been from the start. Now it is a smaller flawed proposal.” This P3 is an environmental, financial, socio-economic, and drivers’ nightmare. There will be years of noise and pollution during construction of the new lanes. The project will cause enormous harm to affected communities and gridlock on local roads as people make their way to and from the new toll entrances.

The tolls will be unaffordable for the vast majority of drivers, leading to increased congestion in the free lanes. In fact, there will be fewer free lanes since the current 2-person HOV lanes on I-270, which are restricted for only 3 hours per day Monday-Friday and always free, will be converted to HOT–managed lanes at all times. Importantly, this project will not reduce regional traffic congestion. Effective traffic planning requires a multimodal transportation plan with transit options.

Bottlenecks

Not only will there be continued gridlock at key traffic choke points, but as shown in the graphic, there will be two major bottlenecks that will create massive traffic jams. The plan changes the locations of traffic congestion rather than alleviating them. There will be a new bottleneck where the new I-270 toll lanes merge into the unchanged I-495 lanes.

The project will also increase congestion at the current bottleneck on northbound I-270 caused by the highway’s progressive narrowing to just two lanes. The toll lanes will add even more vehicles to the narrowing highway heading north. If the proposed project does not simultaneously address transportation up to Frederick, it will create a traffic nightmare. Widening just the southern part of I-270 will make traffic worse on the northern part.

Environmental Issues

MDOT must revise the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), which was published in July 2020, and reopen a public comment period since the project has changed considerably. The new supplemental DEIS will only have a 45-day public comment period; the initial DEIS had a 120-day comment period. However, this provides an opportunity to address remaining environmental issues. This project promotes the opposite of what is necessary to tackle climate change. It will destroy well-established green buffers, which help clean the air and reduce noise, and will create serious stormwater runoff problems. MDOT plans to issue a supplemental DEIS in late summer 2021 and an FEIS by spring 2022.

Cost Concerns

Building with a P3 is more expensive in the long run than conventional financing. Toll revenues, which could be going to the State, will go to private investors for 50 years. Infrastructure improvements would produce a greater return on investment for taxpayers if delivered without profits for outside investors. According to In the Public Interest, corporate profits, dividends, and income taxes can add 20 to 30 percent to operation and maintenance costs of privatized infrastructure. Moreover, Maryland taxpayers are likely to be required to subsidize the private contractor for construction funding shortfalls and operational deficits. Rockville will bear huge expenses for upgrading the stormwater management system to handle more runoff.

More Highway Widening

The new RPA will lead to worsening of already bad bottlenecks and add pressure to complete the Beltway expansion. Future phases are still an option and more contracts may evolve to widen I-495 as originally planned. Any P3 on I-270 will create pressure to execute a P3 on the Beltway. Plans for expanding I-270 north of I-370 are still underway and a DEIS is in progress. There is huge opposition to what’s left of the disastrous project.

This P3 must be stopped in its entirety.

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