Lawsuit Update; No Letting Up

Governor Moore is the lone decider of the future of Larry Hogan’s toll lane plan. Our new Governor has one smart option and a lot of bad ones.

Moore campaigned to leave no one behind, to be a champion of equity and environmental justice. He aims to make Maryland a national leader on climate action. If he rightly chooses to cancel the toll lane scheme in favor of multiple better alternatives, the wave of benefits he sets in motion will resonate far beyond his time in office.

For now, unfortunately, he shows signs of going in the wrong direction. But that can and must change.

The governor recently spoke of “people who have business models that are intended to separate us because [those people] benefit…” A perfect way to describe the inequitable toll lane plan. 

He also recently said of the public, “That’s where my power comes from, the people.” Well, the people don’t want infrastructure that benefits only the wealthy and condemns everyone else to more congestion and less safety. The people don’t want a backward-looking highway project to further degrade the environment.

How do we hold our Governor to his worthy promises?

  • We keep taking action: We push our elected officials to speak the truth to and about Moore if he continues down Hogan’s path. We make our voices and opinions heard, and we never let up. See the Action Items below.

  • We follow and support the lawsuit making its way through U.S. District Court of Maryland. See the update below.

Gov. Wes Moore; The Washington Post, 8/1/23

Action Item #1

The Moore Administration is asking what we think of their ambitious goal to set “a national and global example for how a state can go all-in on climate action.”

Let’s tell them! ASAP, please complete the Administration’s 2-question survey. Explain, in as much or as little detail as you like, that the Moore Administration will never achieve its goal if they move ahead with Larry Hogan’s toll lane scheme.

For inspiration, see what the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging the toll lane plan (see update below), says: “By bringing more cars onto these highways and creating new traffic bottlenecks, this project would worsen deadly air pollution, especially for nearby environmental justice communities. The state failed to account for the threats this project poses.”

• Click here to access and complete the State’s short environmental survey.

• For more about the Administration’s goals, see Maryland’s Climate Pathway. This new document fails to mention the toll lane project or the resulting increases in vehicle miles traveled, greenhouse gas emissions, and more.

• See the Sierra Club-led technical and legal comments on the project’s environmental flaws here.  

Action Item #2: Watch for It

Check your inbox in the coming days and weeks for quick outreach tools we’ll forward from our trusted coalition partners. Use the tools to tell Montgomery County Councilmembers – because they must be proactive on this issue – to carry our message to Governor Moore: the public says no to Hogan’s inequitable, ineffective, climate-destroying toll lane project.   

Lawsuit Update

The lawsuit challenging the toll lane plan is moving ahead in federal district court.

  • On June 16, 2023, the Sierra Club, NRDC, and historic preservation groups “filed a motion for summary judgement…which asks the judge to decide the case in their favor without going to trial.”

  • By August 7, 2023, “MDOT and [the Federal Highway Administration] plan to file a response and cross-motion for summary judgment…according to the court-ordered schedule…”

  • NRDC’s statement on the lawsuit says, “In its haste to try and get this harmful project started, the Hogan administration cut corners and ignored legally required steps. The new administration of Gov. Wes Moore now has the opportunity to conduct the robust and just environmental review that the law requires.”

  • But according to MDOT, its “Managed Lanes Study fully complied with all federal requirements in the environmental review process…”

We may soon learn more about Governor Moore’s pending decision: to take ownership of his predecessor’s very bad plan, or to work toward equitable, environmentally sound transportation that benefits all.

If the latter, wonderful. If the former, we won’t let up.

Troubling Signs and Good News

Uh oh. It looks like Governor Moore may advance some version of the Hogan-era toll lane scheme (see “What We Know,” below). Specifics are TBD. The public will be consulted, but MDOT’s not saying to what end.

 If the Moore administration goes ahead with this, they will be weighed down, mired in former Gov. Hogan’s destructive, inequitable plan.

 Governor Moore will end up, as his predecessor did, relying on toll-lane theater instead of honestly engaging the public on this issue. Why? Because:

  • No version of the toll lane plan can be truthfully defended on its merits. The project was designed as a means of maximizing revenue for a private contractor. Its bones won’t be fundamentally altered by any change in scope or funding method.

  • The project can’t survive reasonable scrutiny – that’s why it’s never had independent financial and legal review; why the Capital Beltway Accord has never been released; and why key traffic modeling, pollution data, and mitigation plans are missing.

  • The project is an illusion of a congestion-relief plan. If any version of the project is built, the vast majority of highway users will be worse off than they are now! 

 

Here’s the good news

The powerful lawsuit opposing the toll lane plan — filed by the Sierra Club, National Resources Defense Council, and historic preservation groups — is advancing.

  • The Moore administration, if they’re willing, can find the lawsuit an invaluable source for expert, clear-eyed analyses of what is, isn’t, and should have been in MDOT’s environmental review documents.

  • The lawsuit's filing memorandum, along with the Sierra Club’s comments on the Final Environmental Impact Statement, are filled with information critical to making informed decisions about the project. We urge administration decision-makers to read both the filing (60 pages) and the comments (63 pages).

  • For that small investment in reading time, the Moore administration will get a full picture of a project that will negatively impact our environment, health, safety, economy, and ability to live equitable lives for generations.

Lawsuit filed at U.S. District Court, District of Maryland, Southern Division. Photo courtesy of the Court.

ACTION ITEM

As Governor Moore is making up his mind about the toll lane project, he and the Montgomery County Council must hear from us.

ASAP, please write to county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov. In your own words, explain why you actively oppose the toll lane project. Ask Councilmembers to urge the governor to reject any version of the project in favor of better, smarter choices.

Encourage your friends and neighbors to take this action, too. If you’ve written to the Council recently, thank you for writing again now! Our voices can make all the difference.

Bonus Action Item

The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) is using a quick online form to gather feedback on regional transportation projects. Click here; then click “next”; enter “Maryland”; then click “OP Lanes Maryland Phase I” and “Strongly Disagree”!

What we know

  • The Moore Administration’s Department of Transportation wrote to homeowners near portions of I-495, and I-270 as far north as the Y split, requesting access to their property for toll-lane related data collection.

  • The Moore Administration’s Department of Environment approved a water quality certification covering the project’s Phase 1. On June 19, the Sierra Club submitted a compelling appeal for reconsideration of that decision.

  • Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller recently said of the project’s future: “The state cannot start all over as that would mean a loss of federal funds and a delay of years...Instead, the state will consider what needs to be done, which she said could mean road widening along the entire stretch or only at the American Legion Bridge.”

  • According to an MDOT spokesperson, the agency is “continuing design and permitting activities; field work and data collection; and developing funding options and procurement approaches … including seeking federal grants.” 

 

But, and this is major…

 Governor Moore’s press secretary just told MoCo360 that the Governor’s “first priority is to review the project through the ‘lens of equity, sustainability, environmental protection and environmental justice.’” As the Governor looks more closely, he’ll find that no version of the toll lane project has an honest chance to pass through any of those lens.

Note: Time to retire Hogan-era’s “soul crushing traffic”

Larry Hogan frequently said, without asking what we thought, that our souls were being crushed by traffic, and his toll lane plan was the antidote. He said, “…we’re not going to let politics delay” getting Marylanders unstuck from “soul-crushing traffic”.  He said, “This [TPB vote] is a great victory for Marylanders sick and tired of being stuck in soul-crushing traffic.” He offered an illustrated version here: “Tired of sitting in soul crushing traffic? Our plan can fix that.”

Recently Lt. Governor Miller said of traveling along I-270: “It’s soul crushing to be in that traffic.”

Actually, congestion on lower I-270 south of the bottleneck at I-370 (the bottleneck that will get worse if the toll lanes are built) has been greatly reduced. That’s thanks to MDOT’s highly successful Innovative Congestion Management System, initiated in 2017.

Expanding the use of ICM techniques is, in fact, one of the multiple smart alternatives to the toll lanes.

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.

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