With time running out in this year’s state legislative session, county lawmakers on Wednesday intensified their push for the Senate to pass bills that would require additional scrutiny for Gov. Larry Hogan’s $9 billion plan to add toll lanes to Interstate 270 and the Beltway.
Montgomery’s state and local lawmakers have opposed Hogan’s proposal since he announced it in September 2017, arguing that portions of the route through the county, particularly the Beltway east of the I-270 spur, couldn’t be expanded without taking property.
Maryland Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn said last year that “no homes would be taken,” but recently said the state would “prioritize and incentivize” contractors that don’t intend to take homes, raising concerns on the County Council that the stance could be shifting.
At a Wednesday afternoon news conference in the state capital, attended by County Executive Marc Elrich and council members Tom Hucker and Evan Glass, Elrich said adding toll lanes is not the “magic silver bullet” that the governor claims.
“It’s totally ignoring the other traffic problems in Montgomery County. It’s totally ignoring the role of transit,” Elrich said. “It would be nice if he had come and said, ‘I’m prepared to make a major investment in transit.’”
Elrich has said he has developed a friendly relationship with Hogan, and that the two agree that the Beltway’s American Legion Bridge Potomac River Crossing at Cabin John needs to be improved.
But Elrich believes said a better solution to the overall project in the corridor would be to designate two service lanes on the inside of the existing I-270 as reversible lanes.
“This is not about [‘Not in My Back Yard’ factions] and people opposed to traffic. It’s about solutions. It’s [traffic] addressable without an expensive solution,” he said.
Elrich noted that the state’s $8.5 billion incentive package for Amazon last year included a number of public transit improvements, such as additional MARC commuter train service to West Virginia and money for more bus rapid transit.
“Speeding people on I-270 does not empty the exit lines,” Elrich said.
Several measures that would mandate greater review and approval of the projects are before the legislature, which adjourns Monday at midnight.
A House bill sponsored by five Montgomery delegates, all Democrats, would require that any public-private partnership of more than $500 million require that each contractor submit a report that outlines the purpose of the project and an environmental impact statement as required by the National Environmental Policy Act — which would both be required before the state’s Board of Public Works can approve the project.
The House passed the bill 96-42 on March 18, and a hearing was scheduled in the Senate Wednesday afternoon.
A sponsor of the bill, Del. Jared Solomon, of Chevy Chase, conceded Wednesday he said he expected Hogan to veto it and wasn’t sure there would be enough time for the Senate to override the governor’s action.
“Time is probably not on our side for that,” he said.
A spokesperson for Hogan’s office could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.
Rahn, who testified at Wednesday’s Senate hearing, said half-a-million drivers use the two interstates every day, with that number predicted to more than double by 2040. He pointed to last week’s 12-hour Inner Loop closure in Northern Virginia at the foot of the Legion Bridge after a fuel tanker overturned.
“If we want to experience one of those events every day, then we should do nothing,” he said.
Dan Schere can be reached at Daniel.schere@moco360.media
