Toll-Lane Lame Ducks Are Running Out of Time. Take Action!

MDOT is push/pulling the toll lane scheme to the lame-duck Board of Public Works for 11th hour approval before Larry Hogan leaves office. It’s not a pretty picture.

A Board of Public Works operating in the public interest would never approve a project so weighed down by controversy, suspicious agreements, intense opposition, hidden finances, and flawed assumptions. On top of that, the voters of Maryland have spoken. Our likely next governor, Wes Moore, doesn’t want what MDOT is selling.

Fortunately, recent events and the ticking clock are not going MDOT’s way:

• The US Army Corps of Engineers just added a month to the public comment period for the water permit Hogan and MDOT need. See the important Action Item, below. Your comments matter!

• A three-judge panel added 7 weeks for additional briefings on a losing bidder’s challenge to MDOT’s contract procurement.

• MDOT must give the Maryland General Assembly 30 days to review the proposed contract before a BPW vote.

• MDOT must give the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission 60 days to review the plan.

• Meanwhile, something dodgy is going on with MDOT’s traffic modeling. Keep an eye on that one. Details below.

Action Item

The US Army Corps of Engineers just gave the public an extra month -- until October 28, 2022 – to describe how the toll lane plan will affect our lives. Let’s tell them! Use this easy message tool to send comments and ask the USACE to reject MDOT’s waterways application and the harm the project will do.

To get started, look for ideas plus ready-made text here (click on “Read More” and “Read entire message”). Also see suggestions here from our partner Citizens Against Beltway Expansion and here, in our earlier outreach. If you’ve already sent comments, please send more!

Opposition intensifies

Our determined, collective opposition to the Governor’s plan has gotten this far because we’ve pursued every opportunity to speak the truth. The water permit action item, above, is a case in point. Heroic elected officials plus activists like you have turned MDOT’s flawed water permit plans into a rallying point. And it’s working.

In just the past few weeks, official letters to the USACE from 52 members of the Maryland General Assembly, the City of Rockville, the majority of the Prince George’s County Council, and 14 mayors of municipalities in Prince George’s County have shown a bright light on toll lane harms and deficiencies.

We call it fishy. MDOT calls it traffic modeling. This story is far from over…

Part 1: Experts have documented the toll lane project’s flawed traffic modeling processes and results for years now. A detailed overview is here in Sierra Club comments signed by over 40 organizations and the City of Rockville (section starts on p.11).

Part 2: Ben Ross, our valued partner and Chair of the Maryland Transit Opportunities Coalition, called attention to possible fraud in the traffic data found in the project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement.

Part 3: Maryland officials claimed the US government found no evidence of fraud. But what independent federal experts actually said was they “could not assess the plausibility of the validity of adjustments that the state officials made in the traffic calculations…and it was unclear how the traffic results favoring the preferred toll lanes alternative were obtained.” MDOT tried to bury that news.

Maryland Matters. Photo by Bruce DePuyt

Part 4: The City of Rockville, for excellent reasons included here, submitted a Public Information Act request for MDOT’s underlying traffic data.

Part 5: MDOT said it would charge Rockville $11,848.57 for the data, and that, “Payment does not guarantee the full release of the records you seek.” But according to an independent expert, “Despite the size of Maryland’s project, state officials should be able to provide the data for free or cheaply.”

Part 6: Rockville paid the fee, “an extremely good expenditure, considering the City may be on the hook for millions of dollars,” said Rockville Councilmember and professional statistician Mark Pierzchala. MDOT says it will respond to the City’s request by October 14. Stay tuned. This could turn into something big.

Action alert: Stop the water permits, stop the toll lanes

We just received an action alert from our partners at the Sierra Club. The Maryland State Highway Association has requested permits from federal and state agencies for water impacts related to the toll lane construction.

The permit requests outline insufficient plans to protect our regulated wetlands, waterways, and floodplains from the proposed I-495 and I-270 toll lane project. Likely impacts include irreversible harm to aquatic wildlife, stream bank and floodplain erosion, the destruction of several natural communities and habitats, and sending potentially toxic runoff into the Potomac River, a source of drinking water for 6 million people.

Our voices can be heard in this permitting process. Join this Sierra Club action alert, and raise your concerns.

The action alert sends your objections to these recipients:

• Nicholas.R.Ozburn@usace.army.mil

• MDE.SHAprojects@maryland.gov

• john.j.dinne@usace.army.mil

Comments must be submitted by September 29, 2022. Thank you for your support!

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Brian Ditzler, Sierra Club Maryland Chapter <reply@emails.sierraclub.org>
Date: Tue, Sep 13, 2022 at 8:08 AM
Subject: Tell the federal government: reject the water permits for the I-495 and I-270 toll lanes project

Take action!

Governor Hogan’s proposal to widen I-495 and I-270 with private toll lanes would not solve traffic congestion and would be a disaster for Maryland’s air, land, water resources, communities, and historic resources.

Right now, the Maryland State Highway Administration is seeking approval from federal and state agencies on permits that would authorize impacts from the I-495 and I-270 toll lane project on regulated wetlands, waterways, and floodplains.

Tell federal and state officials: reject the water permits for the flawed I-495 and I-270 project!

The efforts outlined in the permit application to mitigate impacts to water resources are grossly insufficient. With no plan for nearby stormwater mitigation for much of the expanded highway and bridge, there would be irreversible harm to aquatic wildlife, stream bank and floodplain erosion, and the destruction of several natural communities and habitats. There is no plan for the treatment of potentially toxic runoff from the American Legion Bridge directly into the Potomac River, a source of drinking water for 6 million people.

There continue to be concerns about the project's negative impacts on natural and cultural resources, including on an historic African-American cemetery in Cabin John, Maryland.

Write to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Maryland Department of Environment to reject the water permits for the flawed I-495 and I-270 toll lanes project!

Thank you for taking action to project our communities and the environment from the threats of major highway expansion.

Yours in the fight,

Brian Ditzler
Transportation Chair
Sierra Club Maryland Chapter

Lindsey Mendelson
Transportation Representative
Sierra Club Maryland Chapter

P.S. Interested in testifying at the virtual hearing on the water permit? Sign up here and message transportation@mdsierra.org for tips and talking points.

As Endgame Nears, Toll Lane Scheme is Still Vulnerable

Mark January 18, 2023 on your calendar

That’s the day Governor Hogan leaves office. The toll lane project has always been his. When he goes, the project could go with him. Unless, that is, he and MDOT try to beat the clock and recklessly commit Marylanders to this damaging project before he leaves office.

We can’t let that happen. You can help.

Despite USDOT’s recent OK for the toll lanes, MDOT must still clear significant hurdles before the end of Hogan’s term. See highlighted ones below, along with the important, related Action Item.

We’re nearing the endgame, but this project is still vulnerable.

Toll lane hurdle #1: Legal action

Hogan’s project could face legal challenges, including from a broad coalition of grassroots and advocacy groups. The Sierra Club of Maryland and 40+ partners, including the City of Rockville and DontWiden270.org, signed extensive comments on the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). Those comments, written by nationally recognized legal and technical experts, form the basis for potential litigation.

Action item: Support the Maryland Sierra Club’s legal fund

The Sierra Club’s "Maryland Smart Growth Defense Fund” is a key component of the effort to stop this harmful project. The Fund was formed for this project and helps pay for essential technical and legal expertise and legal counsel.

We hope you will contribute. To donate by credit card, click here. To donate by check, make your check payable to "Sierra Club Foundation". In the memo, write "MD Smart Growth Defense Fund." Mail to Sierra Club Foundation, 2101 Webster Street, Suite 1250, Oakland CA 94612. Donations to the Fund are tax deductible. Thank you!

More hurdles for toll lanes

Statutory delays to MDOT’s mad dash:

• Maryland law requires 30 days for legislative review of P3 project contracts before they go to the three-member Board of Public Works for an up or down vote.

• MDOT has to give the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission 60 days to review the project and make recommendations.

A challenge to the fairness of the bid process that won’t go away:

• The next stage of the lawsuit filed by a losing bidder for the MDOT toll-lane contract is expected soon.

Issues with Australian conglomerate Transurban:

• MDOT’s private for-profit consortium still doesn’t have a construction partner, despite having shortlisted three finalists a year ago.

• The company is under fire in Australia as a “monopoly of monopolies” for its “screwnami” practices.

• Transurban’s CEO recently said the I-495/I-270 toll lane project in Maryland still had “‘quite a few issues’…and it was uncertain if financial paperwork would be signed off by the end of the year.”

Flash of clarity (just one) in the Washington Post Editorial Board’s 20th Toll Lane Endorsement

A grain of truth makes it into the Washington Post’s newest pro-toll lane editorial. In the space of a single sentence, the Post stops pushing MDOT’s glossy, false scenario and admits that what it wants is exactly what Transurban, that “monopoly of monopolies” (see above) is selling: a high-priced means of escape for the wealthy, made possible by permanently induced congestion for the rest of us.

The sentence: “Mr. Hogan has stood nearly alone among Maryland’s major elected officials in pushing to add the toll lanes, which drivers would use voluntarily to escape the usual crawl in the regular lanes.” The Post is admitting that virtually nobody wants the toll lanes. The Post is admitting that after the $5 billion project is complete, traffic will keep on crawling in the free lanes the same as before.

So there it is, in a single sentence. Transurban’s business model, Hogan’s real transportation “policy”, and the lobbyists’ interests, all aligned. That’s what MDOT, with its pablum-like outreach and its thousands of opaque pages, has worked so hard to obscure. Stunning.