Critics Cry Foul After Hogan's Highway Plan Gets Green Light

SILVER SPRING, MD — Critics are crying foul after the state Board of Public Works gave Gov. Larry Hogan's ambitious highway expansion plan the green light on June 5. The plan aims to add toll lanes to the Capital Beltway and I-270 to alleviate traffic congestion.

In Annapolis on Wednesday, the public works board voted 2-to-1 in favor of Hogan's plan after he decided to flip the order of which toll lanes would be added first. The three members of the public works board are Hogan, Treasurer Nancy Kopp, and Comptroller Peter Franchot. Kopp voted against the toll plan.

As of now, the Beltway part of the project will be put on hold while state officials prioritize making improvements on I-270. And while some critics can breathe a little easier knowing the Beltway won't add toll lanes — at least just yet — others are calling the amended plan a slap in the face.

DontWiden270.org — an organization founded by Rockshire resident Pete Altman — issued a statement regarding the board's decision. In their remarks, the group blamed officials like Franchot for allowing the amended plan to move forward.

"We are disappointed by Comptroller Peter Franchot's decision to throw due diligence and fiscal responsibility out the window by backing Governor Hogan's plan to widen I-270 and I-495," the organization wrote.

The group also did not spare Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich.

On Wednesday, Elrich, an outspoken critic of the plan, testified before the board in Annapolis. At the meeting, Elrich said Montgomery officials have been left in the dark about the plan and had a testy exchange with the governor. But ahead of the day's key vote, Franchot said Elrich called him at an "odd awful early hour" to talk about the plan. According to Bethesda Beat, Elrich told the comptroller to focus on I-270, rather than the Beltway.

"We are also dismayed by Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich's apparent role in moving the project forward, as Franchot described a call in which Elrich urged him to 'do 270 … first, since that's the one we all agree on,'" DontWiden270 said in the statement.

Patch reached out to Elrich's office for comment. Per a spokeswoman, the county executive did not directly address the group's concerns, but called the board's decision a "step in the right direction."

Hogan's transportation plan relies on a public-private partnership model — which puts private developers in charge of building, financing, and maintaining the toll lanes. Now that the vote has passed, developers can submit bids on the project to the Maryland Department of Transportation.

Widening the two major interstates is part of a long-term project that aims to alleviate traffic jams, Hogan said. The plan is divided into three phases.

"This thing has always been thought of as three different phases. One phase would alleviate the traffic congestion on 495 — the Capital Beltway from the Potomac River all the way through Montgomery County, through I-95, and northern Prince George's County," Hogan said.

"Another phase is the congestion relief and increased capacity of improvements to I-270. And a third phase would be the improvement to the Beltway in Prince George's County — south all the way to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

"All of the numerous studies to date, and all of the data, have clearly shown that all three of these phases are critically needed. And our intention is to eventually complete all three of these phases," Hogan said.

However, making room for these toll lanes, according to local officials and multiple media outlets, would call for demolishing possibly dozens of homes and several businesses. The estimated cost for the project: up to $11 billion.

"This project has been from the start an ill-conceived, ill-considered mess and the scene at BPW continued in that vein, as Governor Hogan and Comptroller Franchot changed the plan on the fly without fully understanding what they were doing," DontWiden270.org said in a statement. "It was an embarrassment to their offices, their responsibility to protect Maryland, and to the state itself."