It’s time to make our voices heard. Again.

Maryland officials pushing private, for-profit toll lanes keep running into the everyday wisdom and activism of the Maryland public. Over the past eight years:

We’ve crowded into open houses/town halls/civic association meetings/MDOT and VDOT sessions in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. We’ve submitted thousands of public comments, including nearly 9,000 during MDOT’s federally-mandated review.

We’ve testified at local, county, state, and regional hearings. Carried signs (some made by our kids and grandkids) into rallies, press conferences, parades, and MDOT roadshows. Lobbied elected officials, distributed 15,000 door hangers, published newsletters and editorials, distributed handouts at civic functions, and supported a public interest lawsuit and appeal.

And we’ve created lasting statewide coalitions of grassroots, religious, and public advocacy organizations and elected allies, all urging state officials to turn to better, smarter options than private, for-profit toll lanes.

**Outside MDOT 12/2/23 Open House at Wootton H.S.**
**Credit: Sierra Club MD Chapter**

Latest updates

In December, the Trump Administration’s Department of Transportation (USDOT) said, “Governor Moore’s lack of action on the American Legion Bridge corridor is holding back progress on one of the nation’s most critical transportation routes…”

The Federal Highway Administration released a Request for Information (RFI) seeking public and industry input on “accelerating reconstruction of the American Legion Memorial Bridge to ease Beltway congestion on the I-495/I-270 corridor.” The RFI highlighted Public-Private Partnerships (P3s).

Governor Moore came to office saying he’d reevaluate Larry Hogan’s for-profit P3 toll lane plan through a “lens of equity…a lens of environmental protection…and a core understanding of what it means to move in partnership with local jurisdictions, local elected officials and local leaders”.

But on January 11, Moore and USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy issued a joint statement saying, “Specifically for the American Legion Bridge, we agreed about the need to speed up the reconstruction and leverage innovative approaches like a public-private partnership (P3)…” As reported by Maryland Matters, Moore was explicit about using a P3 for the project.

Write to Moore now. Remind him that people don’t like $50 tolls.

And people don’t like subsidizing for-profit toll lane giants and giving them outsized say in state transportation policy. We don’t want VA’s bottlenecks relocating to MD, or for-profit toll lanes expanding around the Beltway and onto lower I-270. We don’t want years of construction misery and harm only to end up with more congestion and more accidents in the non-tolled lanes (as has happened in Northern VA), and worse bottlenecks on upper I-270.

Please, today, write to Governor Moore. Click here, choose “Transportation” from the Message Topic menu and let him know why you oppose private, for-profit toll lanes on the American Legion Bridge, I-495 and I-270.

More action to take

The USDOT is soliciting public comments on the RFI described in “Latest Updates” (above). Go to the latest newsletter from our trusted partner Citizens Against Beltway Expansion to find more information on the RFI and an easy, fillable form page for submitting a public comment on the RFI by the February 9 deadline.

Thank you!