Yes, but…

Maryland Matters does as good a job as anyone summing up the toll-lane project’s current status: “Next steps are not immediately clear.” 

YES: Toll-giant Transurban has exited the I-495/I-270 project. A big step in the right direction.
BUT: Pro-highway interests keep pushing toll lanes, and we don’t know what the Moore administration will do.

YES: Gov. Moore has pledged to address the project through the “lens of equity… the lens of environmental protection” and to leave no one behind.
BUT: He hasn’t said “no” to a vastly inequitable project that benefits only the wealthiest.

YES: Making smart, collaborative decisions about regional transportation is immensely complex. The Moore administration needs time to do it right.
BUT: What doesn’t take time is announcing ASAP the end of any version of Hogan’s hugely harmful left-over of a plan. A plan that lacks public support. A plan that would require Moore to spend the rest of his first term imposing destructive construction on an unwilling public, only to leave them worse off  than before.

As long as any version of the toll-lane scheme remains on the table, our broad coalition will keep actively opposing it and pressing for the smarter alternatives. (See “Look to the List!” and “Latest Lawsuit”, below).

Northbound I-495 toll lanes between Tysons and Route 50 at peak congestion. General lanes (with no inside shoulder) are packed; toll lanes are empty. Maryland chose the same design.

Action Item

The fate of the toll lane project may be decided soon. Governor Moore repeatedly said he wants “engagement with local partners...” Lobbyists and special interests are working hard to get the governor’s ear. Our county elected officials need to be in that mix, actively calling for an end to this harmful plan.

Write to the Montgomery County Council today. Urge them to call on the Moore Administration to cancel the toll lane plan now in favor of the effective alternatives.

Use your own heartfelt/worried/impassioned words to explain why you oppose the project.

Send your message to county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov. Your message will be distributed to the Council President and all County Councilmembers.

Look to the List!

Anyone who doubts the breadth of opposition to the public-private toll lane scheme should check out the more than 70 organizational signers of this powerful letter to Transportation Sec. Wiedefeld.

Signing on: Unions, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the NAACP, civic groups, environmental coalitions, the Sierra Club of Maryland, transit advocates, conservationists, foundations, grassroots orgs, homeowners’ associations, scientific associations, sports orgs, faith ministries, the City of Rockville, and on and on.

It’s a gathering of advocacy forces that collectively represent hundreds of thousands of Marylanders who know a very bad deal when they see one. All are urging Governor Moore to make the only call consistent with his goals and values: end the toll lane scheme and pivot to future-looking alternatives that will truly meet public needs.

Latest Lawsuit

A dark hallmark of the toll-lane plan has been the relentless effort by MDOT and others to hide information from the public. Now the Maryland Transit Opportunities Coalition, our trusted partner, has filed a lawsuit to force the Federal Highway Administration to share documentation about the project. The suit calls out in particular the mysterious Capital Beltway Accord, the much publicized, never seen bi-state “agreement” that may or may not exist, may or may not govern Maryland financial commitments for the next 50 years, may or may not constrain Maryland transportation policy for generations. Thank you for filing, MTOC.

The construction/destruction that awaits us if Moore says ‘yes’.

Just one example: sound wall down, trees felled. Prep for toll lane construction.

Northbound I-495 near Georgetown Pike, 4/12/23.

You can easily see what will happen in MD if the toll lane project goes forward. Just take a drive on I-495 in Northern VA. Under Hogan, MDOT’s project was designed to be a continuation of VDOT’s 495 NEXT project, which is now under construction.

• See VDOT’s chillingly business-as-usual description of neighborhood sound wall removal, tree clearing, pile driving.

• Read about the actual devastating impact on communities in this lawsuit filed by the Northern Virginia Citizen’s Association.

• See this warning from VA residents to Marylanders, published in Maryland Matters.

We need to make our voices heard! Write to the Montgomery County Council today at county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov.

Latest on Unfixable Toll Lane Plan

The toll lane plan Gov. Hogan left behind is a tangled mass of moving parts: legal, political, environmental, financial, procedural, and on and on.

The public and its advocates have done a remarkable job of shining light on the dark corners of this scheme (see ‘Stakeholders’ Table’, below). But as always, much remains hidden.

Here’s what we know about the project’s status:

• Transurban & team officially have until March 21, 2023 — the deadline set by Hogan — to present their plan to the Moore administration.

• Paul Wiedefeld, former head of WMATA and Metro, has been confirmed as State Transportation Secretary. He’ll be key to toll road decision-making.

• Good news: the Montgomery County Council/County Executive drafted a transportation priority letter to MDOT that, instead of endorsing the project, calls for “careful and transparent analysis…to evaluate the necessity of public-private partnership…”

• Positive sign: a 2/11/23, Washington Post article quotes a Moore spokesman about the toll lane project: “Governor Moore’s first priority is to review solutions through the lens of equity, sustainability, environmental protection and environmental justice.” (See ‘Separate and Unequal’, below.)

• The Sierra Club-led Federal lawsuit to “halt the…toll lane project because of an insufficient and error-filled environmental review” is active and ongoing.

• Our broad coalition of activist organizations is accelerating its role as truth tellers/fact checkers/supporters of our elected allies. The coalition posted this extensive list of smart, effective alternatives to the scheme and these must-read resources.

Action Item

The toll lane project is not over; we need to make sure our voices are heard. Share this update with family, friends, and newcomers to your area. Encourage them to join our mailing list at DontWiden270.org. Encourage them also to follow our trusted partners: Citizens Against Beltway Expansion (CABE); the Sierra Club of Maryland; Maryland Advocates for Sustainable Transportation (MAST); and the Maryland Transit Opportunities Coalition (MTOC). When people understand the truth about this project, they say ‘no’ to private toll lanes (see ‘Wash Post Poll’, below).

“Separate and unequal” toll lane P3 can never pass through Moore’s equity lens

 

If any private, for-profit toll lane plan goes forward, it will stand –literally -- as a concrete divider of the public into separate and unequal tiers. On one side -- the few able to pay exorbitant rates for faster, safer travel. On the other side, most of the public, who are consigned by a for-profit business model, to permanent congestion, worsening and new bottlenecks, and increased accidents.

Contrary to the marketing words of proponents, the project would use public infrastructure and public funds to lock in the degradation of social, economic, and environmental justice for generations.

It’s inconceivable that Governor Moore, with his welcome and intense focus on equity, would let that happen on his watch.

• Especially not when the toll lane project would decimate the 8th most diverse city in the entire US, Rockville (which has been sounding the alarm for years); make travel worse than it is now for the 1st and 3rd most diverse cities in the US — Germantown and Gaithersburg — and clearly target the 4th most diverse, Silver Spring.

• Especially not when the state has admitted the project will need government subsidy. The tax dollars of middle- and lower-income drivers who can’t afford the tolls would go to build express lanes for the wealthy few.

• Especially not when so many smart, equitable alternatives exist. For instance, elements of MDOT’s hugely successful, state-funded I-270 Innovative Congestion Management system could be implemented on I-495 and other roads much more quickly and at vastly less cost and risk than the current P3. MARC train expansion, under study for years, already has wide acceptance.

MDOT's Innovative Congestion Management, 9/9/2021. MDOT

Sec. Wiedefeld: Bring public activists to the stakeholders’ table

 

Secretary Wiedefeld told a state Senate committee, “I need to get out and meet with a lot of the stakeholders about [the toll lanes]. We need to build a consensus about what we want to do there” (time stamp 2:14:15).

The Secretary will find no group of stakeholders who’ve spent more years (5) wading into as much opaque MDOT documentation (tens of thousands of pages), consulting more nationally known technical and legal experts, supporting more elected allies, and spending more time on research, study, and analysis of every aspect of the P3 project than the coalition of public activists/advocacy organizations opposing the project.

Collectively, we’ve documented and shared the work we’ve done and our wide-ranging findings.

Representatives of our broad coalition will be key to helping Sec. Wiedefeld arrive at accurate conclusions about the P3. The Secretary's office can contact any of the advocacy organizations linked in the Action Item above to get activists and experts involved in the Secretary's stakeholder process.

Wash Post poll confirms what Wash Post keeps denying…

 

People don’t want sky-high tolls, induced congestion, and new bottlenecks – especially people who will be directly impacted. A  Washington Post-University of Maryland poll shows 54% of Montgomery County respondents oppose the private toll lane project (of course they do) vs. 40% in favor. 50% of Prince George’s County respondents oppose the project vs. 42% in favor.

To see the poll data, go to Question 12 here, then scroll across to the Maryland Regions section, columns Y and Z.

NOTE: The Post’s implacable/irrational support for the toll lane scheme (to date they’ve published 20 pro-toll lane editorials) is now spilling over to its news reporting. See this posting about it from Transit for Maryland.

Quick Action Alert: Tell Moore to End the Toll Lane Project ASAP

We still don’t know what Governor Moore will do about Larry Hogan’s private toll lane plan. Take action today to urge Moore to end the scheme and choose from the array of effective alternatives already on the table.

Click here to reach the “Share Your Ideas” form on Moore’s website. (You will need to use your Google account or create one.) Select “transportation” as your policy area and tell the Governor why you want him to end the toll-lane project now. If you’ve written before, it’s fine to write again.

For background:

• Look at the NY Times’ Widening Highways Doesn’t Fix Traffic. So Why Do We Keep Doing It?, including this: “If you keep adding lanes because you want to reduce traffic congestion, you have to be really determined not to learn from history…”

• Skim through the articles in DontWiden270.org's past newsletters.

• See the City of Rockville’s detailed objections to the toll lane project, gathered here.

• Consider how the project will take from the many, only to benefit the wealthiest few and the shareholders of MDOT’s private partner, Australian toll-giant Transurban.

Moore’s inspiring directive requires the end of the scheme

Photo: State Highway Administration, on WMAR (emphasis added)

Rejecting the toll lane project is the only choice consistent with Moore’s signature motto: “Leave No One Behind.” If our governor acts on his own wise words, no one will be left behind: not economically, not in worsening congestion, not in health and safety, not in a damaged environment and diminished communities.

Thank you for taking action. Watch for detailed toll-lane project updates in the coming weeks.