Opposition To I-270 Widening Continues One Day Before Revote

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — A cluster of signs that said “Don’t Widen Interstate-270” was visible from Nelson Street in Rockville Tuesday afternoon, as community leaders and politicians gathered in Woodley Park to protest the I-495/I-270 Managed Lane proposal — part of Gov. Larry Hogan’s Traffic Relief Plan — that goes in front of the Planning Board Wednesday.

The proposal calls for the widening of I-270 to create two high-occupancy toll lanes. The Board voted to exclude that part of the project in a conformity analysis in June but is up for a revote. Critics of the plan say that it ignores environmental impact and only solves the congestion problem for people able to pay the toll, furthering economic inequities.

State Senator Cheryl Kagan said she has two major concerns the project as it’s been proposed, both relating to the lack of data about the plan’s impact.

“How on earth can we justify spending billions of taxpayer dollars and then assessing tolls that are going to be unaffordable to virtually anyone while we don't have the environmental impact statement, we don't understand how it's going to destroy our environment and our neighborhoods, one?” said Kagan. “Two, we do not yet know the impact of the coronavirus on commuting patterns.”

The return to the office is far from certain, Kagan noted, with many companies keeping the option of at least part-time remote work, making it unclear how severe the return of traffic will be.

Gov. Larry Hogan has been outspoken in his criticism of Montgomery County officials and their opposition to his traffic plan. He has touted the impact the project could have on travelers in the DMV by clearing up traffic and opening funding for other projects in Maryland.

"Despite all this, a tiny group of out-of-touch Montgomery County politicians continue to try and sabotage the project, catering to pro-traffic activists at the expense of the overwhelming majority of residents who want something done about the traffic and who support our plan," said Hogan in a news release last week. "Their actions threaten to derail the new American Legion Bridge, the whole plan, and critical projects throughout the region."

Hogan has said if the toll project is cut, the success of other transportation projects in the state with a lack of funding. His office sent the Planning Board a letter shortly after the vote in June, saying that the toll lanes are crucial for generating revenue for other transportation projects, including a list of other initiatives that would be either limited or cut entirely if the toll lanes were not created. The list included five from Montgomery County: MD 97 Corridor, MD 117 Corridor, MD 124 Corridor, MD 97 and MD 28 Interchange and Corridor Cities Transitway.

Del. Marc Korman, who represents District 16 in Montgomery County, criticized the list in a Twitter thread, pointing out that the state hasn’t announced funding for any of those projects so far regardless of the toll status.

The first project the Governor threatens is US 15/US 40 Corridor in Frederick. A project for which the Governor has budgeted a grand total of zero dollars in the current and future fiscal years. /5 pic.twitter.com/d3UTWLwN7z
— Marc Korman (@mkorman) July" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/mkorman/st... 8, 2021

County Executive Marc Elrich said Hogan’s claims about cutting other transportation plans if the expansion isn’t passed is just an example of Hogan’s bullying.

“Creating a public perception that these projects would be killed and the money would be withdrawn when there was no actual money to withdraw — that’s bullying,” said Elrich, continuing to name other pressuring tactics of the governor. “Telling people that we're going to condemn you to soul crushing traffic when the reality is, if you're not in the toll lane, the governor will be keeping the other lanes so congested that people are willing to pay to get out of those lanes.”

The co-chair of the Citizens Against Beltway Expansion expressed similar sentiments, calling into question the validity of the governor’s threats to other transportation projects.

“The governor has been called out for these empty threats and his bullying tactics,” said Barbara Cofaul, the co-chair. “The truth is that the governor has not actually provided funding for these projects in his transportation budget this year, or for the next five years. We should not fall for the governor's fake threats.”

If the Planning Board votes yes to add the expansion back in to the plan, the decision will go to the Board of Public Works, which consists of Hogan, the state treasurer, and the state comptroller. The state treasurer, Nancy Kopp, is expected to vote against it, leaving Comptroller Peter Franchot with the deciding vote.

Kagan said that if it comes to the Board of Public Works, they will appeal to Franchot, a Montgomery County resident.

"These folks and many, many others have been trying to reach him, contact him and lobby him to do the right thing for his home county of Montgomery County, for our neighbors in Prince George's County and the residents that he alleges to represent," she said.

The Transportation Planning Board will meet and vote at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, July 21.