The Toll-Lane Scheme/Scam Keeps Growing…and Getting Exposed
Absurd! MDOT and Transurban are racing to get a construction contract signed before Governor Hogan leaves office.
They’re keeping critical information from the public, taking shortcuts through federally-mandated reviews, and making goofy attempts to convince us that what we’re seeing isn’t really what we’re seeing. Examples:
Hiding info. Remember that 2019, so-called “historic” Capital Beltway Accord between the governors of MD and VA? Documentation of the Accord — if it even exists — has never been made public. We don’t know what Maryland agreed to do, or what taxpayers will have to subsidize. But we know more than we did because a 2/8/22 MDOT/VDOT community presentation revealed chilling new info. Read about it below.
Taking shortcuts. The public, elected officials, and a wide range of organizations submitted 5,000 comments about the toll-lane project during the 2020 and 2021 environmental reviews. MDOT has not publicly released or publicly responded to any.
Repeatedly telling us not to believe our own eyes. Just this past Friday, MDOT sent a public message via its Op Lanes (MDOT’s silly name for toll lanes) e-mail distribution list. The message offered us a link to one of MDOT’s 2019 marketing videos and reassurance that toll lanes will reduce congestion in Maryland. Hah. What they don’t want us to know, including pics, is below.
Start with the Action Item. Then see the toll-lane scheme/scam exposed, followed by excellent news about elected officials and advocates reaching out on the public’s behalf.
Action Item
For a practical, cumulative impact: Send the pictures and evidence in this newsletter to people (including elected officials and candidates) who need to know that if MDOT and Transurban get their way, congestion will be worse, accident rates will soar, and taxpayer money will go to subsidize an Australian toll giant.
What MDOT and Transurban have planned is a mega-billion-dollar, generation-spanning boondoggle that will do a world of harm. That conclusion is based on documented evidence, including all of this. Pass it on, please.
MDOT reveals its design for massive toll interchange in…VA?
At last week’s meeting of the McLean Citizen’s Organization, MDOT — there to address the local community’s concerns — made clear some disturbing news that was not very clear before.
Maryland, through its contract with Transurban, will be responsible for designing and building a massive I-495 toll-lane interchange at the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Virginia as part of Maryland’s Phase 1 South toll lane project.
MDOT’s spaghetti-like design for the GW Parkway interchange is below (and here, slide 6). No wonder the community is concerned. MDOT will build the lanes and flyover ramps shown in brown in the illustration. Virginia will build the lanes shown in blue.
Is this effort related to the Capital Beltway Accord the public has never seen? The Accord is referred to as a work in progress here (see Sec. 7.0), here (see Sec. 1.5), and in the footnote here. But there’s no public evidence the Accord has been finalized or even written down yet.
This certainly raises questions:
Is MDOT starting work on a multi-billion dollar construction project based on a handshake with the VA governor?
If MD and VA have nothing to hide, why aren’t they sharing their Accord with the public?
Why are Maryland state employees working on designs for VA, anyway?
And what financial risk does this pose for MD taxpayers?
And there’s more. This is about Maryland’s contract with Transurban. Back in 2019, Virginia signed a contract with Transurban to build VA toll lanes north to the American Legion Bridge. Key elements of the contract have not been made public (see the highly redacted agreement here).
Then in 2021, Maryland also selected Transurban as the winning bidder to design and build toll lanes, including from the George Washington Parkway in VA north into MD. Did Transurban’s contract with VA influence MD’s selection process?
It’s all head-spinning.
And FYI, this coming Wednesday, one of the losing bidders for the MD contract will be in Montgomery County Circuit Court re: appeal of MDOT’s award to AMP/Transurban for Phase 1 of the I-495/I-270 contract.
How the toll lanes REALLY look and operate
A recent pic of a Transurban-designed and built segment of I-495 in Northern Virginia shows what MDOT intends for our Maryland highways (the proof is in the next section).
You’re looking at northbound traffic on I-495 between Tysons and Route 50 at peak congestion.
The toll lanes in the center are nearly empty; drivers chose not to pay the sky-high tolls. The general lanes are packed. Huge trucks, small trucks, family vehicles jammed together — a recipe for accidents.
There is no inside shoulder for the general lanes. Nowhere to pull off, no place to go in an emergency.
VDOT’s numbers show the awful consequences of this design. Since the toll lanes were added, “The crash rate for northbound I-495 [general purpose] lanes from Route 7 to the [American Legion Memorial Bridge] is approximately 100 percent higher than the statewide crash rate. The injury crash rate is 25 percent higher than the statewide injury crash rate” (emphasis added; citation found here, p. 83).
I-270/I-495 will have the same dangerous, congested setup
A schematic for MDOT's preferred alternative shows Maryland can expect the same dynamic we see in Northern Virginia: virtually empty toll lanes; maximally congested general lanes; decreased safety; increased accidents. Note that the five general purpose lanes on I-270 will have no inside shoulder. Frightening.
You can find a simulated view (see slide 10) from inside the proposed toll lanes in MDOT’s 2/8/22 presentation to the McLean Citizen’s Association. You’ll see two toll lanes with their own dedicated shoulder, and all the general lanes with no inside shoulder. Remember, these are MDOT’s own images.
Outstanding action by the Sierra Club and the City of Rockville
Two exceptionally strong letters went out to the Federal Highway Administration recently, identifying significant deficiencies in the toll-lane project’s Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement and calling for additional analyses and discussion of mitigation measures.
Read the Sierra Club’s letter here and the letter from Rockville Mayor Bridget Newton and Rockville Councilmembers Monique Ashton, Beryl Feinberg, David Myles, and Mark Pierzchala here. Both letters are powerful and compelling.