“Alternate Plan” from County Looks Bad for Lower I-270 Neighborhoods

County Executive Marc Elrich is advancing an alternative to Governor Hogan’s plan that will increase the pressure to add lanes to I-270. This “plan” seems to throw I-270 communities under the proverbial bus in order to protect Beltway neighborhoods. Mr. Elrich’s office has not responded to our repeated requests to meet and discuss the plan. 

Here’s what we know: The alternative plan is outlined in Mr. Elrich’s July 11th, 2019 letter to the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board. It calls for the following:  

• Funneling traffic from I-95 to I-270, via the Intercounty Connector. The plan is designed to relieve congestion on the Beltway by channeling commuters who travel south on I-95 and then west on the Beltway to head west on the Intercounty Connector (ICC) instead of the Beltway. This extra traffic would end up on lower I-270, adding even more cars to the existing congestion.

• Extending Virginia’s new toll lanes through I-270. The plan calls for the managed lane network that Virginia is building to connect into Maryland and would extend the additional toll lanes all the way up to I-370.

• Limited transit and technology integration. To its credit, the plan includes use of technology tools to better manage traffic flow as well as improvements to Park & Ride facilities, and notes that more could be done if funded with toll revenues.

Unfortunately, the welcome emphasis on transit may be the only part of this plan we could support. The additional traffic for I-270 and apparent commitment to carry the toll lanes from Virginia through Montgomery County raises a bunch of questions which we need to get answers to: 

• Who else in County leadership is backing this plan? Does this plan represent a consensus among elected County officials?

  • Did Mr. Elrich discuss this plan with the Montgomery Council before sending the July 11th letter? If not, why not? If so, what documentation were they provided?

  • Knowing how much anxiety has been expressed by local groups, why didn’t Mr. Elrich reach out to municipal leaders in Gaithersburg and Rockville and I-270 neighborhood and civic associations to discuss this plan?

• Regarding the plan itself, is there more written up than the July 11th letter and map? Where is the actual plan document? What analysis has been conducted to assess the impacts of shifting traffic from I-95 across the ICC to the I-270? And,

  • Why doesn’t Mr. Elrich support reversible lanes on the lower part of I-270 as well as north of I-370, which has been Montgomery County’s long-standing position?

  • How many lanes does Mr. Elrich propose be added to the lower part of I-270? How many lanes would there be in total on this section of I-270?

  • Why didn’t Mr. Elrich specify that any changes to I-270 below I-370 must stay within the existing rights of way and sound walls? How will he respond if MDOT says that I-270 will have to be widened beyond the existing rights-of-way for the plan to work?

If this “alternate plan” concerns you, and you’d like to see it and understand how the County Executive justifies putting one set of communities at risk to protect another, when he is supposed to be watching out for all of his constituents, please call Mr. Elrich’s office and ask: 240-777-0311. 

While you are at it, it’s worth asking the County Councilmembers what their positions are on this plan to dump traffic from I-95 and the Beltway onto I-270. Please only contact Councilmembers who represent you. The two who represent the areas where I-270 would be widened south of I-370 are:

Andrew Friedson, District 1:  240-777-7828 (Councilmember.Friedson@montgomerycountymd.gov) 

Sidney Katz, District 3:  240-777-7906 (Sidney.Katz@montgomerycountymd.gov)

Board of Public Works Allows Hogan's Highway Plan to Move Forward

But the decision to tackle all of I-270 first may create new problems for the controversial proposal

On Wednesday, June 5th 2019, the Board of Public Works authorized the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) to proceed with the I-270/I-495 widening project as a public-private partnership.

Here are the basics of what happened, and what it may mean for opponents of the project and residents who live near the highways. (If you want to watch the meeting, you can do so here.)

1. Governor Hogan and Comptroller Franchot voted to formally make the I-270/I-495 project a P3, entitling MDOT to seek private funding. Treasurer Kopp voted against. 
2. Hogan amended the plan during the meeting to put I-270 FIRST for whatever changes they are going to make (until then, I-270 was going to be in two separate, later stages.) He also is delaying any changes to the American Legion Bridge.
3. Franchot offered several amendments, most of which appear to be meaningless. These are discussed below. 
4. Hogan made several references to establishing a process whereby MDOT and Montgomery and Prince George's County leaders would negotiate on plans for the beltway. No such provision was mentioned for I-270.

While the meeting at first appeared to seal the fate of I-270 neighbors while effectively granting a reprieve to those who live by I-495, the full implications of the decisions made are probably more complex. Clearly the acts of putting I-270 first, without modifications to the American Legion Bridge, and creating a mechanism for Montgomery and Prince George’s County leaders to negotiate with MDOT over beltway changes are all slaps in the face to the I-270 neighbors who have been opposing widening.

It was also extremely disappointing that Comptroller Franchot chose to back Hogan instead of his fiscal guardianship duties. It sounds as though Franchot was influenced by a call from County Executive Marcc Elrich to back Hogan’s revised plan: Franchot stated during the meeting that Elrich called him before hand to urge him to “do 270 … first, since that’s the one we all agree on.”

So, last Wednesday was frustrating in several ways.

However, the BPW meeting may actually have created more problems for Governor Hogan’s plans than they solved.. As Ben Ross with the Maryland Transportation Opportunities Coalition (MTOC) points out, the State has been following a federally mandated process for only a portion of I-270. It isn’t necessarily a simple thing for them to just add on the other half of I-270 eighteen months into the process – in other words, by putting all of I-270 first, the Governor may have forced MDOT to have to start the whole process over.
 
We aren’t sure of this, since it will come down to legal maneuvering and politics but it’s a clear possibility and we’ll keep close tabs on it.
 
Its also worth noting that even supporters of widening I-270 are strongly questioning the Governor’s decision to exclude the American Legion Bridge from the revised plans, since it is one of the worst choke points in the area.
 
Next, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that Frederick County leaders aren’t all that enthusiastic about the evolving plans for the highway. As the Frederick News-Post reported on June 6th, elected officials there are asking questions about whether adding lanes will really lessen congestion and why transit isn’t a more central component of the Governor’s plan.
 
On top of that, the Montgomery National Capital Park and Planning Commission (MNCPPC) formally rejected MDOT’s “screened alternatives” for the highway project, as Maryland Matters reported. The MNCPPC’s action is significant because it is a formal stakeholder in the process, and when a formal stakeholder doesn’t agree with the plan, the Federal Highway Administration is supposed to step in to bring the sides into agreement. This may not mean everything gets fixed, but it does give the MNCPPC a much stronger say over the project than it had before.
 
In short, the week ended with Hogan having a lot more problems than he had before.

With the big picture stuff out of the way, here’s our take on the amendments Franchot made during the meeting. The amendments, which Franchot puts forward at 3:01:15 on the video, don't seem to add up to much. Here they are - transcribed from the video - with each followed by questions or commentary from DontWiden270.org regarding their meaning and impact.

1.       No acquisitions of property related to this project will take place prior to the BPW reviewing and voting up or down on the final P3 agreement following the competitive procurement process. Question: were any homes or property actually at risk before a final agreement is struck?  

2.       The RFP will contain a provision permitting mass transit bus access on the managed toll lanes. Without tolls. But this was already a done deal – see MDOT’s explanation of screened alternatives published in February 2019: “Bus usage, including consideration of additional express bus service as recommended by the TPB, will be examined in all ETL and HOT managed lanes alternatives to accommodate transit within the 495 and 270 roadways.”

3.       10% of all state net tolled proceeds after the private developer has been compensated for construction costs will be channeled to Montgomery and Prince George’s County regional transit. While the idea of extracting financing for transit out of this project is a pretty smart way to salvage something positive out of a terrible plan, we need to be realistic about what revenues this would yield. First, as has been pointed out many times, we have good reasons to be skeptical that the project will even pay for itself; if it doesn't, this amendment is meaningless. This amendment only means something if the 10% tithe is built into the toll pricing beforehand, since the tolls are supposed to be set at a level just high enough to pay the contractors back. There isn't supposed to be "overage" in the toll revenues since that would mean MDOT is making the tolls higher than they need to be, which would reduce the number of people choosing to pay them.  

4.       Feasibility study of the monorail from shady grove to Frederick as possibly a P3 or state support; that’s something the legislature might be open to. Hogan “I don’t know how deep of a study we’re going to do…I think its worth considering the idea; I’m willing to say we’re willing to do an initial feasibility study and consider that with the legislature to see if it makes any sense.” Given Hogan's comments about this, and MDOT’s earlier decision to reject all transit-only options for this project, we shouldn’t have any expectation this will yield more than a formal dismissal of the idea by MDOT.

DontWiden270.org Bulletin-May 2019

What’s Happening Now?

The Maryland General Assembly adjourned April 8; however, a lot has happened since then and there will be lots of activity between now and when they reconvene January 8, 2020.The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) is barging full steam ahead to push their managed toll lane project forward and DontWiden270.org and other advocacy groups, as well as county and state officials continue to fight back. As described below, we have had considerable success in recent weeks, momentum is growing, press coverage is increasing, and the public is getting better informed and more active in opposing this boondoggle.

What You Can Do

Your involvement is so important! The latest development involves a major upcoming vote by the state Board of Public Works (BPW) on the proposal to widen I-270 and I-495. Our goal is to urge the members of this three-person Board (which includes the Governor, the State Treasurer, and the Comptroller) to vote no on moving this project forward. The BPW will consider MDOT’s request to designate the toll lane project as a public-private partnership (P3) in early June, essentially fast-tracking this reckless plan. Please write the BPW members explaining why they should reject this $9-11 billion P3 project. Click here for suggestions on how to construct and send your letter. Use the sample letter or make your input more meaningful by stating the importance of rejecting this proposal in your own words.

Recent Events

The scheduled BPW meeting

On May 1, the Washington Post reported that Governor Hogan was pushing to include a vote for the P3 proposal on the May 8 BPW agenda despite knowing that Treasurer Nancy Kopp had informed the BPW six months earlier that she would be out of town on a vacation to celebrate her 50th wedding anniversary. Ms. Kopp had previously stated that she felt a project this important, with an impact for at least a half-century, deserved more examination. Despite public outcry urging the Governor to delay the vote until Ms. Kopp could be present, his office confirmed on May 3 that there were no plans to delay the meeting. Asked why the governor’s office couldn’t delay the vote for two weeks, a spokesman in the governor’s office said, “…we have to keep moving. Something of this importance to the public’s safety and well-being shouldn’t be delayed.” Later that day, increasing publicity and a letter of protest by 36 state lawmakers from Montgomery and Prince George’s counties led to the discussion being postponed until a BPW meeting in June.

Town hall meeting in Silver Spring

Montgomery County council member, Tom Hucker, organized a town hall meeting on May 5 to discuss the proposed widening of I-495 and I-270. The meeting was put together with only one week’s notice but nevertheless, with standing room only, nearly 1,000 people turned out to listen to county and state officials and community organizers. The speakers criticized MDOT’s lack of local community and government involvement and called for more transparency, studies focused on the potential environmental impact and the cost to taxpayers, the need for transit options, and more. A 4 minute video showing the highlights of the meeting can be found here. Or click here to watch all of the formal presentations.

Governor Hogan’s tweets

Apparently, Governor Hogan was watching the live presentation of the town hall meeting because midway through he began sending tweets referring to the meeting as a “road kill rally to halt our plans to solve the congestion crisis” and the town hall participants as “pro-traffic activists who plot to keep the roads filled with traffic.” John Kelly of the Washington Post (scroll down to the item entitled “Beltway Bandit) decried the Governor’s language as smearing “… Maryland citizens who are rightfully concerned about their backyards, their parks, the environment and their state’s fiscal health” and stating that “If anyone is pro-traffic in this issue, surely it’s whichever company ends up winning the contract to build and maintain the high-occupancy toll lanes. It will make money only if there’s traffic.”

Looking Ahead

· MDOT has scheduled the last of their public workshops on May 14 in Oxon Hill and May 16 in Germantown.

· The BPW meeting with the P3 proposal included in the agenda is scheduled to take place in a yet unannounced date in June.