Toll-lane traffic model just found to be invalid, illogical, and wrong (a lot like the rest of the project). We’ve got til 11/15 to tell MDOT: “We’re on to you!”

The absurdities of MDOT’s traffic forecasting claims (adding toll lanes in Bethesda ends traffic jams near Annapolis??) were just uncovered by our valued partner, the Maryland Transit Opportunities Coalition. Accurate traffic forecasts are critically important. If they can’t be trusted, then MDOT’s Supplementary Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) -- the public’s only means of evaluating the P3 project -- can’t be trusted either. DontWiden270.org and other grassroots groups are urging the Federal Highway Administration to require a do-over.

Right now, though, we’ve got an 11/15 deadline to submit public comments on the SDEIS. And public comments matter! You’ll find commenting tips and details below, including a handy guide to toll-lane facts that should convince any skeptic that MDOT’s up to no good.

*** Important Action Item ***

Register for the Maryland Sierra Club’s virtual call-to-action event on legal strategy for fighting the toll lanes: Tuesday, October 26 at 7 p.m. You’ll be welcomed by former MD Governor Parris Glendening, hear an update on the P3 project, and learn how you can support the Sierra Club’s plans to stop the toll lanes through the work of the Maryland Smart Growth Defense Fund.

Much of the fight against the P3 has to be waged on legal and procedural grounds, and that requires smart, effective legal and subject matter expertise. We’re grateful the Sierra Club is working to find and leverage that expertise. The people they engage do some pro bono work, but this effort still takes considerable funds.

Please support the Maryland Smart Growth Defense Fund. It helps resource the legal strategy shared by our coalition of advocacy groups and is entirely devoted to stopping the toll-lane expansion.

Comments on the SDEIS needed! Please submit yours by 11/15. Numbers matter!

As of this writing, MDOT has granted no extension of the 45-day public comment period for the SDEIS. The current deadline is November 15.

You have the following commenting options. Click on the links below for specific instructions, or access all instructions here:

• Provide verbal public testimony at virtual public hearing sessions on November 1, 2021.

• Provide verbal public testimony via voicemail (855-432-1483) during virtual public hearing sessions, or throughout the 45-day comment period.

• Submit an electronic comment form.

• Send an email to oplanesMLS@mdot.maryland.gov.

The 8,000+ page SDEIS, issued by MDOT on October 1, was supposed to give detailed information about the impact of the American Legion Bridge/I-495/I-270 project on the physical, cultural, and human environment. But the SDEIS, like the DEIS before it, lacks adequate information, analysis, and mitigations in critically important areas.

To inspire your SDEIS comments, refer to the handy guide below. You’ll also find a list of additional issues you might like to include.

A handy guide to what’s wrong with the toll lane project

Staying on top of the I-495/I-270 P3 is hard. So many moving parts and rabbit holes, so many intentional obstacles. To inspire your SDEIS comments and help you cut through the noise, we’ve put together this very abbreviated guide to refer to and share, especially with those who still need convincing that the toll lanes won’t work.

What We Know - The project’s traffic model lacks credibility.

How We Know - Analysis of traffic forecast cites pervasive errors.

What We Know - Hogan prevented an independent financial review of the P3 agreement.

How We Know - He denied State Treasurer’s funding request for financial and legal analysis (p. 6).

What We Know - The toll lanes will not help congestion.

How We Know - Free lanes will go only 7 mph for long stretches in PM rush. Bottlenecks get worse.

What We Know - The tolls will be sky-high. *

How We Know - Apply the cost escalation rate (p. 36) to the 2020 maximum toll rates (p. 22) and get $50 tolls to go 12 miles in 2026.

What We Know - Toll-setting reflects the skewed population in a key study.

How We Know - Only 27% of invited participants in this study had household incomes under $100k (p. 57).

What We Know - The full Beltway is back in the plan.

How We Know - See MDOT’s new project map.

* If you want to comment on those sky-high tolls one more time, you have til 10/28 to call the MD Transportation Authority at 855-701-1977 and leave a message; or click here to use the comment form.

Here are more topics you might like to include in your SDEIS comments

These issues are either inadequately addressed or not addressed at all in the SDEIS:

• Impact of telework on congestion

• Impact of induced demand

• Increased traffic on local roads

• Impact of 5 years of construction, and related disruptions, noise, pollution

• Unspecified/underestimated Limits of Disturbance

• Necessity of relocating utilities – and determining who pays

• Air quality/air emissions, including particulate matter and the cumulative impacts of greenhouse gases

• Climate change analysis

• Stormwater management and water quality monitoring

• Issues of environmental justice

• Significant loss of tree cover, park land, and wildlife

• Loss of portions of homeowner property (note that MDOT has said no homes will be taken for Phase 1 South)

MDOT Issues 8,000 Page Doc, Puts Entire Beltway Back in the Toll-Lane Mix, but Hopes to Distract Us with 3¢ and a Bit of Rebranding

• Despite all the promises from the Governor, MDOT Secretary Greg Slater, and Peter Franchot, the Beltway toll lanes are back in the P3 plan. For starters, where will MDOT put them? In tunnels, as MDOT’s private partner Transurban does in Australia?
  

• The State tolling authority announced a one-and-done change to the onerous proposed tolls for I-495/I-270. The Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) will reduce the rock bottom, middle-of-the-night minimum toll rate by 3¢. Yes, 3¢. No changes to the $50 rush hour tolls.
  

• On October 1, MDOT issued the massive Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) for the project’s Phase 1 South. The public and officials have just 45 days to review, analyze, and comment on 8,231 pages.
  

• And then there’s MDOT’s brand new name for those lanes you pay money to drive on.

You can read about these developments, below, following this action item.

Action Item

Sign up for the October 13 CABE Town Hall meeting: For insight, updates, and all the encouragement you need to keep fighting the P3 project, register for the virtual Town Hall led by our valued partner Citizens Against Beltway Expansion (CABE). You’ll hear from elected officials -- including Rockville’s Mayor Bridget Newton -- advocates and grassroots activists. Click here for the registration form and all the Town Hall details.

The toll-lane project will include the Beltway…again

Our September 19 newsletter quoted the CEO of Transurban saying his company would encircle Washington, DC, with toll lanes. The very next day, MDOT posted a revised project map, confirming what the CEO had already announced. The Beltway will get toll lanes if MDOT and Transurban get their way.

From the OP Lanes Website homepage

This map should be an eye-opener for every politician who acted on the belief that the Beltway would be spared, and for every person who trusts what the Governor, Secretary Slater, and Comptroller Franchot tell us about the project.

The map says we and our elected officials must stop this P3 before the State hands over our public infrastructure, transportation policy, and options to Transurban, the Australian conglomerate that makes no secret of its ambitions. There are smarter, fairer, better ways to improve regional transportation. This P3 is about the worst choice our State can make.

Need more proof? Look at the spaghetti-mess MDOT and Transurban have planned for the already notorious northern bottleneck on I-270 at I-370. (The purple lines are the I-270 express lane project. The number of lanes is indicated. See the original schematic here, p. 6.)

From MDTA Final I-495/I-270 Preliminary Toll Rate Due Diligence Report (p. 6)

MDOT has rebranded the I-495/I-270 toll lanes!

If a State Department of Transportation can shoot itself in the foot while giving itself a makeover, that’s what MDOT just did. On September 20, MDOT debuted a new name and image for the P3 project: OP Lanes!

OP stands for “Opportunity” and “Options.” See the new OP Lanes website! See the new OP Lanes video, featuring the cutest puppy and happy children running through the grass.

Our response to MDOT: Call it an OP Lane or a Golden Goose lane, or whatever you want. It’s a toll lane. An unwanted, congestion-worsening, exorbitantly priced, backward-looking, environment-harming toll lane.

Faced with vast inequities, MDTA congratulates itself on 3¢ toll rate reduction

The MDTA Board can’t claim it didn’t know what was at stake when it announced that P3 rush hour tolls would stay sky-high, and that the yearly escalation rate of 2.1% above the annual consumer price index wouldn’t change.

When the public spoke during the toll setting comment period earlier this year, the Board heard in detail about the harm the proposed rates would cause: the $50 rush hour tolls; the social/racial/economic injustice of the regressive tax; the increased congestion and decreased safety in the reduced number of free lanes; and on and on. See powerful examples of the public testimony here.

The Board’s response was to declare they’d “listened to the public” and reduced the minimum toll rate by 3¢/mile but kept all other rates unchanged because that “best suited the financial viability of the project.”

The SDEIS has over 8,000 pages. The public is getting a first look now.

MDOT posted the federally-mandated SDEIS for the P3 project on October 1. This is the last Environmental Impact Statement that federal agencies evaluating the project will review. It’s also the last one the public will see before a Final EIS is issued – and MDOT’s not saying when that will be.

The public needs much more than 45 days to review this document. That’s why the Sierra Club and 44 other organizations, including DontWiden270.org, sent a letter to the Federal Highway Administration and MDOT, requesting an extension of the comment period.

We’ll keep you updated on the contents of the SDEIS and let you know how to make your voice heard during this critical review. You can access MDOT’s instructions on providing feedback here.

As for what happened to the crush of DEIS public comments submitted ahead of last November’s deadline, MDOT posted this dismissive statement on the OP Lane site: “MDOT SHA and FHWA continue to consider the nearly 3,000 comments received as part of the DEIS and public hearings held last fall.”

Some early analysis of the SDEIS

• The Washington Post finds evidence in the SDEIS that congestion would not improve with the toll lanes.

• The Maryland Transit Opportunities Coalition cites blatant errors in the SDEIS traffic analysis.

• WTOP says, “The [SDEIS] showed minimal improvement for driving from the Capital Beltway to Interstate 370 in Rockville, with the addition of the toll lanes improving the drive by 1 mph.”

MDOT May Have the PR Machine, But We’ve Got the Winning, Seven-Word Argument: “Sky-High Tolls! Traffic Jams Get Worse!”

• It’s no surprise that many people – including many elected officials – simply accept MDOT’s endlessly repeated message: “The toll lanes will reduce congestion for all.”

•  MDOT has made it virtually impossible for the public to penetrate the vast, extraordinarily complex, and intentionally opaque toll-lane project or the Public Private Partnership (P3) agreement that governs it.

•  But we’ve found that a straightforward message, coupled with supporting evidence, is consistently successful at influencing people’s opinions: “Tolls will be sky-high. Traffic jams will get worse.”

Read the compelling details behind the winning argument, below, and check out what Transurban's CEO just said about toll lanes on the Beltway.

But first, see the Action Item that can help us amplify our message and much more, in surprising ways.

Action Item

We’re at the intense beginning of Maryland’s political campaign season. The outcome of the 2022 elections – particularly the gubernatorial, comptroller, and county leadership races – could have a huge impact on the outcome of the P3 project.

Right now, the fluid field of candidates is actively jockeying for support, contributions, and votes. It’s easier now than at almost any other time to get the attention of these candidates – including current office-holders at high levels. It’s an unrivaled opportunity for any of us to get them talking about what’s wrong with the toll-lane project, competing for the votes of everyone opposed to the toll lanes, and publicly spreading our messages.

Here are action guidelines for getting access to candidates, deciding what to ask for, and achieving what you want.

Make the connections

 

• Try to literally put yourself in the path of candidates who can influence the course of the toll-road project. Here are the declared candidates for governor. A quick online search will show candidates for comptroller, county leadership positions, and others. Most have websites with contact information.

• Connect with the candidates at in-person public forums, debates, fundraisers, and political party gatherings or at virtual gatherings where you can ask questions.

• Take DontWiden270 signs or similar ones to hold up at events. The point is to keep the issue front and center.

• Get in touch with campaign staff to see if you and like-minded activists can meet with a candidate or if they will come to a community or interest group event you’ll help organize.

Hold out for clear answers

•  When you talk to candidates, either one-on-one or via questions at meetings, be direct about your opposition to the toll lanes and ask for their position on the project.

• Your goal is to have them oppose the project publicly.

• Give them compelling examples of the harm the project will do, with a focus on the unaffordable tolls and increased congestion in the reduced number of free lanes.

• Don’t accept easy statements like, “MDOT needs to stay within the existing right of way.” A candidate who wants your support has to be unequivocal in rejecting the P3 project.

• Urge them to put their position in writing.

Focus on results

• If the candidate is not well informed about the project – and many will not be – offer to help educate them or refer them to others who can. Encourage them to visit the DontWiden270.org and Citizens Against Beltway Expansion websites.

• Send follow-up information about the impact of high tolls and increased congestion on the candidate’s potential constituents. Share information on any and all aspects of the project’s financial, environmental, community, public policy, transportation policy, and environmental and social justice deficiencies. Tell them why you and other constituents are personally opposed.

• Monitor the candidate’s campaign website to see if they have posted or changed their positions on the toll lanes.

• Keep following up.

• Let them know you will publicly share the news when they declare a final position, whatever that may be. Be sure and thank them if they go public with opposition to the project.

For information about the 2022 Maryland election, including primary and general election dates and lists of certified candidates (most have until February 22 to submit forms), see the Maryland Board of Elections.

Evidence you can use to support our winning argument.

How we know the tolls will be exorbitant

• According to Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) toll-range calculations, the initial maximum toll rate for Phase 1 South would be $3.76/mile in 2021 dollars.

• Using MDTA’s yearly toll escalation factor (p. 6), the maximum toll rate when the express lanes would open in 2026 will be over $4/mile.

• At over $4/mile, the rush-hour cost to go the 12 miles from Rockville to the American Legion Bridge (ALB) would be approximately $50 each way.

How we know the toll lanes will create congestion

• Significant portions of lower I-270 currently have an HOV-2 lane plus six additional lanes on each side.

• The toll-lane plan converts the HOV-2 lanes to HOT-3 tolled lanes. This removes one of the currently free-of-charge lanes in each direction and creates new congestion.

• MDOT’s final Alternative 9 design calls for just five free lanes outside the toll lanes on each side of lower I-270. This further reduction of free lanes guarantees new congestion all along lower I-270. At I-370, the existing bottleneck will be worse.

• Per MDOT’s own presentation, an additional bottleneck will be created at Old Georgetown Road.

Source: MDOT presentation to NCPC, Nov. 7, 2019

Transurban CEO says Beltway toll lanes are very much on the table

Transurban is MDOT’s P3 partner and the Australian for-profit conglomerate that will – if the Governor gets his way – design and build “our” toll lanes, then manage and maintain them for 50 years. To Transurban, we’re just a step to a very profitable future. In a recent interview, company CEO Scott Charlton shared his plans to encircle DC with toll-roads.

“Charlton says…while lucrative in its own right, delivering the first section of [Maryland’s express lanes] also sets his company up to win future stages of the project, valued at another $US9 billion to $US11 billion over the next decade or so. That would give Transurban a continuous network of roads through Maryland and Virginia that encircle Washington DC.

“Charlton says Transurban’s growing footprint around the US capital (with 85 kilometres of express lanes operating currently) also positions it to bid for other roads across America, where there are between $US200 billion to $US300 billion worth of toll roads owned by state or local governments.”

Governor Hogan and Transurban CEO Scott Charlton during Hogan’s 2019 trip to Australia