Quick status update:
Time’s running out for Gov. Hogan to get a toll-lane contract OK’d before he leaves office (see “MDOT vs. the Calendar” below).
If he tries for lame duck approval of the deal, the outcry will be enormous (see “Tip the Scales” action item).
If he can’t beat the clock, the project’s fate is up to Governor-elect Wes Moore.
Moore has consistently said he opposes the project as proposed.
Given his emphasis on equity, transparency, and public participation, we believe he’ll ultimately reject this mess of a P3 in its entirety.
We also believe he’ll champion equitable, effective, environmentally smart alternatives to the boondoggle.
But until the Hogan toll lane scheme is permanently withdrawn from state consideration, public activists – that’s all of us plus advocacy organizations plus our allied elected officials – will keep forcefully opposing the harm.
MDOT vs. the calendar (looks like calendar wins)
The Hogan administration has four chances to try and jam a contract through the Board of Public Works before inauguration day, January 18: BPW meetings on 11/16, 12/7, 12/21, and 1/4.
But consider all that’s supposed to happen first: As-yet unmet regulatory requirements for 60-day review by the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, a 30-day legislative review, and contract review/approval by the Maryland Transportation Authority.
Then there’s the contract itself. It doesn’t seem to be ready. Less than a month ago, the CEO of MDOT’s private partner Transurban told shareholders “the project has a long way to go” and Transurban is “now working with [a construction contractor] to drive value and efficiencies in the project's design, pricing, and delivery… to submit a … proposal and execute a design and construction contract.”
And looming over all are the Federal lawsuit to “halt the…toll lane project because of an insufficient and error-filled environmental review”; a losing bidder's lawsuit challenging MDOT’s contract award to Transurban; and the US Army Corps of Engineers’ consideration of MDOT’s flawed and controversial water permit application.
ACTION ITEM: Tip the scales
The Sierra Club of Maryland, the National Resources Defense Council, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation are leading the new federal lawsuit to stop MDOT’s toll lanes. Until the current toll-lane project is withdrawn from state consideration, this critically important lawsuit must continue.
It takes money to fight a project backed by BIG money. Our side is up against the resources of the Hogan Administration, PACS, highway lobbyists, contractors, developers, and international conglomerates. Please help tip the scales with a tax deductible donation to the "Maryland Smart Growth Defense Fund.” Thank you!
What rolling investigation reveals…
MDOT’s rationale for the toll lane project (congestion relief at no cost to taxpayers) has always been an illusion. That’s why the tens of thousands of pages MDOT has released to the public rely on illusionist tactics: misdirection, deception, opacity, confusion.
But our expert partners continue digging into the documentation and uncovering outrages. The latest example comes from Arthur Katz in his recent submission to the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Among his many important points: “There’s no justification for the proposed actions on I-270”, in large part because of the effectiveness of MDOT’s own I-270 Innovative Congestion Management (ICM) Project (p. 6).
Since 2017, MDOT’s ICM has used roadway and safety improvements and innovative technology to nearly eliminate congestion on I-270 below the northern bottleneck at I-370.
According to Arthur Katz, ICM “will successfully address many of the traffic issues on I-270 over the next 25 years without the MDOT toll lane project.”
“ICM will make a major contribution to reducing congestion on all of I-270, not just the study area” (p. 5).
Note to federal and state decisionmakers who green-lighted the incredibly damaging and congestion-promoting toll lane scheme: The success of Maryland’s ICM project shows what could have been and should be a most viable alternative.
Photo by Angela Breck. Maryland Matters, 11/12/22.
Equity and tolls and inflation, oh my…
We know what inflation does to the cost of tomatoes and gas and rent. Here’s what it does to the toll rates for MDOT’s shamelessly inequitable project. In 2021, the Maryland Transportation Authority approved an annual maximum toll escalation rate of 2.1% “PLUS the annual consumer price index inflation” (p. 356). Imagine this year’s 7% inflation rate tacked onto the sky-high tolls we already anticipate, should this project ever be built.
