Category: Transportation

Group Introduces New Coalition To Push Transit Funding

Posted on by Ted Van Houten

A new collection of transit advocates yesterday began a push to get Annapolis lawmakers focused on transportation funding and a member of the group fueling the effort yesterday night asked for support from a Bethesda Advisory Board.

Kelly Blynn, of the D.C.-based nonprofit Coalition for Smarter Growth, told members of the Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board that without transit projects such as the Purple Line light rail in Bethesda or a Bus Rapid Transit system along Rockville Pike, Montgomery County could not handle the over 200,000 more people coming to the county by 2030.

The Coalition for Smarter Growth spearheaded the “Get Maryland Moving” campaign, which it introduced on Tuesday.

“Maryland’s economic competitiveness is at risk if the state fails to invest adequately in maintenance, local roads and modern transit systems,” Coalition for Smarter Growth executive director Stewart Schwartz said in a statement. “These transit investments are essential for providing relief from peak hour congestion, for supporting economic development, and for reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.”

Blynn came looking for allies at the Advisory Board meeting on Tuesday and described the group’s three-legged approach toward improving local traffic issues: investment in the projected $2.4 billion Purple Line, Bus Rapid Transit (still far from its final design) and Metro system improvements.

Supporters of the “Get Maryland Moving” campaign include the Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce, Action Committee for Transit and and Purple Line Now.

With no state funding in sight, Purple Line design work by the Maryland Transit Administration could be stopped, which local lawmakers say would derail the process. The 16-mile light rail from New Carrollton to Bethesda, with stops in College Park, Silver Spring and Chevy Chase, among others, would bring 15,000 riders a day to the Bethesda station, according to MTA projections.

County leaders say this is the year to get a gas tax hike in the General Assembly that could cover the state’s share of the cost. They are pessimistic that leaders would agree to a gas tax hike in 2014, an election year. So far, Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) hasn’t made achieving transportation funding a priority, to the chagrin of Montgomery leaders such as Councilman Roger Berliner (D-Bethesda-Potomac).

The “Get Maryland Moving” campaign includes a petition to spur action from O’Malley and others on the issue.

Photo courtesy of Get Maryland Moving

Read the original article here >>

NCRTPB votes to consider new access roads for Dulles airport

Posted on by Ted Van Houten

The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board voted unanimously Wednesday to approve studying multiple proposals for new access roads on the west side of Dulles International Airport.


Dulles International Airport. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Joe Ravi CC-BY-SA-30

As a critical hub for trade and commerce, Dulles needs more access roads for cargo trucks, planners say.

Advocates argue that more access roads could mean more cargo trucks, which could mean more trade in an international economy.

“If we don’t improve access to it and the other airports, we’re going to find our economic growth declining,” says Leo Schefer, Washington Airports Task Force president.

But not everyone is in agreement. Opponents point to the price tag, potentially hundreds of millions of dollars.

“At a time when we’re starved for transportation dollars, why are we diverting so much money to these roads on the backside of the airport instead of fixing 66, finishing paying for Dulles rail, revitalizing Route 1 in Fairfax, just dozens and dozens of projects that have not been funded,” says Stewart Schwartz, Coalition for Smarter Growth executive director.

In the hundreds of public comments, residents who oppose the proposed access roads call this a foot in the door toward the creation of what they call an “outer beltway.”

But board chair and Loudoun County Supervisor Scott York says that is not the plan.

“I hope all would understand that this is about supporting the growth of the international airport,” York says.

“The real goal is additional road investment on the backside of the airport to open up the rural areas of Loudoun County and Prince William County to more development,” Schwartz says. “Which is gonna mean more traffic upstream as well.”

Today’s vote means transportation planners will study several alternatives, including the two new access roads or possibly doing nothing at all.

VDOT will then select a preferred alternative before the board votes in July on its long-range transportation plan.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Joe Ravi CC-BY-SA-30

Read the original article here >>

New group pushing for Maryland transportation funding

Posted on by Ted Van Houten

Transit advocates from the Washington and Baltimore regions have formed a new group to push for additional state transportation funding, including money to build a light rail Purple Line between Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.

The group, called Get Maryland Moving, is asking the Maryland General Assembly and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) to make new revenue for transportation projects a top priority for this legislative session. The group includes Purple Line Now, the Red Line Now PAC in Baltimore, the Maryland League of Women Voters, state environmental groups, and the Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of commerce.

A 16-mile Purple Line would connect Bethesda and New Carrollton, with 21 stations in between. A 14-mile light rail Red Line would connect western Baltimore County with eastern parts of the city.

Maryland transportation officials recently revealed that they would cut off state funding for more detailed design of both transit projects after June 30, unless the General Assembly passes some kind of tax increase to fund new road and transit construction. Transit advocates say they worry the projects could stall for years and jeopardize the state’s quest for highly competitive federal transit construction aid.

Read the original article here >>

Get Maryland Moving: Newly Unified Groups from Baltimore to Washington Call on Governor and General Assembly to Make Transportation Funding a Top Priority This Session

Get Maryland Moving: Newly Unified Groups from Baltimore to Washington Call on Governor and General Assembly to Make Transportation Funding a Top Priority This Session

Posted on by acustis

A new coalition uniting groups from Baltimore to Washington announced today a joint campaign with a strong message to Annapolis: increased funding for transportation, with a particular focus on transit, must be a top priority for Governor O’Malley and the General Assembly this year. Leaders of the new coalition “Get Maryland Moving” warned that without a source of new revenue, critical transit projects like the Washington area’s Purple Line, Baltimore’s Red Line, Montgomery County’s Corridor Cities Transitway, MARC modernization and expansion, and Metro rehabilitation could miss out on federal funding and be delayed for years. Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, said in a statement, “Maryland’s economic competitiveness…

New group forms to push for Maryland transportation funding

Posted on by Danny Levi

A new group has formed in Maryland to urge legislators to find new revenue options to fund transportation projects.

The group — Get Maryland Moving — is comprised of various advocacy organizations, including Purple Line Now and the Red Line Now PAC in Baltimore, Coalition for Smarter Growth, and the Maryland League of Women Voters and the Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce, amongst others.

The group is asking Gov. Martin O’Malley and the Maryland General Assembly to make transportation funding a priority in this legislative session.

O’Malley used part of his annual State of the State speech last month to talk about Maryland’s “worst traffic congestion in the country” and the need for money for the near-bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund but offered no details. An O’Malley spokeswoman said he is working with the legislature to work out a plan.

Maryland’s Transportation Trust Fund pays for road and bridge maintenance, as well as other projects such as light rail, including the proposed Purple and Red lines. The fund has enough money to pay only for current maintenance and is projected to run out of cash by 2018.

Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

Read the original story here >>

Chevy Chase Lake, Police Update, Smart Growth On Agenda Tuesday

Posted on by Ted Van Houten

The Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board will discuss the controversial Chevy Chase Lake Sector Plan, get a crime update from MCP Bethesda District commander Capt. Dave Falcinelli and a presentation from the Coalition for Smarter Growth when it meets Tuesday night.

The advisory board is made up of residents from Bethesda, Chevy Chase, North Bethesda, Potomac, Rockville and other areas. The Board issues advisory letters to county policymakers on a variety of issues including land use, which could make its discussion of Chevy Chase Lake particularly interesting.

A coalition of residents, many in a group known as the Connecticut Avenue Corridor Committee, oppose some of the density and height recommendations made by the Montgomery County Planning Board for redevelopment of strip shopping centers in Chevy Chase Lake. Many against the Planning Board recommendations made their case to Councilman Roger Berliner (D-Bethesda-Potomac) at a town hall meeting last month.

Berliner and the rest of the Council will hear from all parties at a public hearing set for 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5, then decide how the final Sector Plan should look. The Advisory Board’s discussion might lead to another opinion on the issue.

Falcinelli will also present, as well as representatives from the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a D.C.-based nonprofit joining the push for transportation funding to help build transit projects such as the Purple Line light rail.

The Advisory Board meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center (4805 Edgemoor Lane) and is open to all.

Roger Berliner: Saving Purple Line requires governor’s involvement

Posted on by Danny Levi

Without new money the Purple Line and the Corridor Cities Transitway may be put on hold, and one Montgomery County councilmember believes the governor needs to take a more active role so that doesn’t happen.

“I don’t think the governor has gotten engaged as much as he needs to,” said Councilmember Roger Berliner at an event with the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

“It pains to read the paper that in Virginia they’re going to pass a gas tax. They’re closer to it than we are, with Gov. McDonnell pushing it, cutting deals to make it happen. I don’t see it in Maryland,” Berliner said.

The Maryland Department of Transportation recently told the Montgomery County Council that the transportation projects would be put on hold.

Montgomery County Chair Nancy Navarro and Councilman Berliner sent them a letter calling the idea “unacceptable.”

“Nothing will happen right away in the new fiscal year on July 1,” Acting Deputy Secretary of Transportation Leif Dormsjo told WTOP.

“We would gradually wind down the project over the months. The consultants would be let go and the money would be reallocated to other purposes.”

Dormsjo said the shutdown date would likely be late summer, with the money for both projects redirected for MARC trains and MTA buses.

“I don’t understand the transportation department’s position. They’ve invested so much in this program. They need to work with the legislature and find the money,” says Berliner.

Dormsjo says the transportation department is working with lawmakers and remains optimistic that a deal will be reached.

“It has been extremely frustrating. Every time we’re close to construction, we run into a funding issue,” says Barbara Sanders of Silver Spring, who is active in the push to build the Purple Line.

The 16-mile light rail line from Bethesda to New Carrollton would cost about $2.15 billion and is slated to open in 2020, although a delay could push back the date several years.

“We need this job centers in Bethesda, Silver Spring to New Carrollton interconnected. It’s critical to the revitalization of these communities. It’s critical for people to avoid this crushing Beltway traffic,” said Stewart Schwartz, executive director at the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

“The problem will only get worse if we don’t give them options like the Purple Line,” Schwartz said.

“Current ridership data suggests that there very few riders today that are making the New Carrollton-to-Bethesda trip. The Purple Line would actually increase demand on the existing Metro system and at our core stations. We are currently out of capacity in our core stations,” says Shyam Kannan, director of planning for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the agency that runs the subway.

Kannan says the Purple Line would only increase the need for Momentum, an effort from the agency to increase rail and bus capacity to deal with rising population and demand.

“I want construction to start 2015, as planned. I don’t want another five-year delay. It would be awful,” says Ben Ross with the Action Committee for Transit of Montgomery County.

Delegate Mike Smigiel, a Republican from the Eastern Shore, opposes raising the gas tax and replenishing the Transportation Trust Fund because he thinks it’ll drive Maryland residents to Virginia and Delaware to fill up their tanks.

Smigiel and other critics also are unwilling to accept tax increases on all Marylanders to help pay for projects that only benefit Baltimore and Montgomery County.

Smigiel points to the InterCounty Connector, partially financed with tax dollars, as an example of what he calls a “boondoggle.”

“This transportation funding issue isn’t just about transit like the Purple Line. This is also about money to deal with a huge backlog of road projects. The rural areas have roads with potholes, roads that need paving and aging bridges,” said Schwartz.

“There are people who don’t like Montgomery County because of our role in the state, but the reality is that we provide 30 percent of the tax revenues for the state. We are the economic engine for the state of Maryland. If you plug the engine, it’s not good for Western Maryland, Baltimore or Southern Maryland,” Berliner said.

The Department of Transportation tells WTOP that it’s drafting a letter in response to the Montgomery County Council that will be sent in the next few weeks.

Read the original article on WTOP.

Photo courtesy of Ari Ashe.

Montgomery scales back dedicated lanes on BRT

Posted on by Ted Van Houten

On the heels of a report suggesting Montgomery County’s Bus Rapid Transit plans are too ambitious, county planners are recommending reducing the number of lines and using dedicated bus lanes across a smaller portion of the system.


Photo by dan reed! on Flickr.

They presented these recommendations last night at a forum hosted by the Coalition for Smarter Growth, “The Next Generation of Transit,” which discussed how the county needs to expand its transit network.

Geoff Anderson from Smart Growth America talked about the social, economic and environmental benefits of public transit and compact, walkable development, while County Councilmember Roger Berliner discussed how transit is integral to attracting young people and entrepreneurs to the county. Mike Madden, project manager for the Maryland Transit Administration, offered a quick update on the Purple Line.

However, the biggest news came from Larry Cole, transportation planner with the Montgomery County Planning Department. Cole presented the latest recommendations for a countywide Bus Rapid Transit network, which would become part of a master plan for future transit expansion.

The county has been studying BRT since 2008, though a recently-released study from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, considered to be international experts on BRT, argues that it may not work in all parts of the county.

Planners looked at current land use and travel habits, along with changes proposed in the county’s existing plans, and compared different scenarios for building BRT. They found that while a larger system would draw more riders and reduce driving, physical and economic constraints made a smaller network more feasible.


BRT corridors Montgomery County planners currently recommend. Click here to see their proposal from last November.

The approximate corridors ITDP recommends.The Planning Department’s latest proposal is for a 79-mile network with two phases. It would have 8 routes, on Route 355, Colesville Road/Columbia Pike, Georgia Avenue, New Hampshire Avenue, Randolph Road, Veirs Mill Road, University Boulevard, and the North Bethesda Transitway. It’s a smaller system than previous proposals, but it’s still more than the 4-route system ITDP favors.

Buses would run in mixed traffic on many corridors just as they do today. Last November, Cole suggested that in order to give buses their own dedicated lanes, considered a must-have for successful BRT, space may need to be taken from cars.

Buses would have dedicated lanes in the median on all of Route 355 between Friendship Heights and Clarksburg, where it will support the redevelopment of White Flint and other areas along the corridor, along with portions of Georgia Avenue, New Hampshire Avenue, and Columbia Pike. Combined, these sections make up 31 miles of the system.

On other roads, like Veirs Mill Road and Randolph Road, buses would travel in a single-lane median that would change directions based on rush hour traffic, in “managed lanes” where buses would have some priority over other vehicles, or in mixed traffic.

Cole cited “difficult operational issues” for places where buses wouldn’t get their own lanes, such as Columbia Pike and Colesville Road south of Lockwood Drive in Silver Spring. Though the corridor has six lanes and is home to some of the most heavily-used bus routes in suburban Maryland, homeowners in Four Corners have expressed opposition to taking away lanes from cars at several public meetings, including this one.

Instead, Lockwood Drive, a two-lane road roughly parallel to Columbia Pike and lined with apartment buildings, would be widened to give buses their own lanes, though it doesn’t go all the way to downtown Silver Spring.

“Is the desire [for transit on Colesville and Columbia] there? Yes,” said Cole. “Is the ridership high enough to justify taking a lane? Yes. When we looked at how that would actually work, we decided we needed additional study.”


Buses would run in mixed traffic on Colesville Road and Georgia Avenue in downtown Silver Spring. Photo by the author.Though Montgomery County’s Bus Rapid Transit plans are being trimmed down, they’re moving in the right direction. ITDP recommended that the county focus on areas where transit use is already high, which the 8 routes as proposed do cover. It’s also good to focus on the right solution for the right area, allowing limited resources to be spent where they’re most needed.

At the same time, we can’t fall prey to “BRT creep,” when BRT systems gradually get watered down throughout the design process to the point where they stop being significant steps forward for transit. County planners need to take a stand even when there’s some opposition.

It’s good that they’ve stood by dedicated lanes on Route 355 even in areas like downtown Bethesda and White Flint where space may have be taken from cars, but it’s disappointing that they’ve chosen not to endorse doing the same on equally-constrained Georgia Avenue or Colesville Road in Silver Spring.

Transit is most effective when it can give riders a reliable commute, and buses simply can’t do that when they’re stuck in traffic with everyone else. And without reliable transit, our region’s growth and prosperity is at risk.

Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, echoed these concerns at the meeting. “We have to make some hard choices,” he said. “We’ve got to figure out a better way to grow. If we do it without adding transit and without adding more walkable neighborhoods, we will just die in our traffic.”

Planners are currently working on a draft of the Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan, which they will present to the Planning Board in March. In May, the board will hold public hearings before taking a vote later this spring. If the Planning Board and later the County Council approve, the county will start doing more detailed studies in addition to preliminary engineering for the Bus Rapid Transit network.

Photos courtesy of Dan Reed.

Read the original article here >>

Residents Seek Answers About ‘Outer Beltway’ During Forum

Posted on by Ted Van Houten

More than 150 people gathered in the auditorium of John Champe High School Monday night to learn more about the state’s plans to build a new highway across Loudoun and Prince William counties.

For most in the room, there were more questions than answers, even for program organizers—longtime critics who have been fighting the project they call the Outer Beltway in its many forms since the late 1980s.

The latest version is the Commonwealth Transportation Board’s designated Corridor of Statewide Significance, called the North-South Corridor, which would link I-95 to near Dumfries to Rt. 7 east of Leesburg. Options to develop a four- to six-lane road that would provide a new western access to Dulles Airport has been under study for the past year.

In Prince William County, detailed planning already is under way to extend the Prince William County Parkway from its I-66 terminus to Rt. 50 in Loudoun, including a Manassas Battlefield bypass that would have north-south traffic skirt the western edge of the national park along Pageland Lane and Sanders Lane. That road would link to Northstar Boulevard and then to Belmont Ridge Road in Loudoun. From there, an eastern spur, either along Rt. 50 or to the north, would move traffic to Rt. 606 and Dulles Airport.

In Loudoun, communities have already gotten communication from VDOT about studies that will be conducted between through April, including ones for wetland delineation, noise monitoring, culture resource surveys such as shovel tests, soil samples and/or hazardous waste investigations, according to a letter received by the Brambleton Group.

The Brambleton Community Association has already taken action to oppose the alternative that would bring the limited-access highway through the southern part of the community.

“The Board took this action because they feel that the construction of this highway will have long lasting and negative impacts on our community,” Brambleton General Manager Rick Stone said in a letter to residents. The letter goes on to note a limited-access road could reduce property values, increase noise related to truck traffic, negatively impact the environment and change future planned uses for the property included in the study area.

“The BCA Board believes that VDOT should focus their study to the existing right-of-ways along Route 50 (already planned as a limited access road) and on the airport property for which the road will serve,” the letter reads.

Piedmont Environmental Council President Chris Miller and Coalition for Smarter Growth Executive Director Stewart Schwartz told the audience Monday night the project, with a price tag that could exceed $1 billion, would do little to reduce commute times or spur job growth. They also questioned a key underpinning of the state’s push build the road, dismissing as “overstated” the claims that the highway was needed to accommodate growing cargo shipments at Dulles Airport.

Residents wanted to know more about the specific alignments the road would take and how their properties and their neighborhoods would be impacted.

“I don’t think they know and I don’t think VDOT will tell you,” Miller said. “But you should start asking.”

Also making presentations during the session were John Hutchison of Aldie Heritage Association and Charlie Grymes, chairman of the Prince William Conservation Alliance.

Hutchison raised concerns that the highway would undermine efforts to create a rural experience that would attract tourist seeking to escape urban environments. The project was cited as the association’s top concern by members during a recent meeting, he said.

Grymes said the North-South Corridor project would do little to create new jobs in Prince William County and would conflict with the county’s strategic plans. “We should invest where we can grow jobs,” he said, adding that focus should be in the I-95 and Rt. 1 corridors at the eastern end of the county. “If you spend your money on a dumb road you don’t need, you don’t have any left,” he said.

VDOT planners held two community open house meetings on the project in Loudoun and Prince William just before Christmas and the public comment period ended Jan. 18. Representatives from VDOT, the Department of Aviation, Department of Rail and Transportation and Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority are formulating recommendations for the Commonwealth Transportation Board.

Photo courtesy of Leesburg Today

Read the original article here >>

Move to moveDC Saturday, and more on the calendar

Posted on by Ted Van Houten

Are you going to moveDC? This Saturday is the moveDC Idea Exchange, the big kickoff to DDOT’s big effort to create a comprehensive transportation plan. Plus, there are 2 forums on the future of transportation in Montgomery County next week.


Photo by Read G on Flickr.

The Idea Exchange includes an open “transportation fair” all day, from 9:30 am to 3 pm at the MLK Library at 9th and G, NW. The booths, open all day, include family-friendly activities as well as more serious transportation discussion.

Mayor Vincent Gray, Councilmember Mary Cheh, and DDOT Director Terry Bellamy will talk at 10:30, and then there will be a panel with Anita Hairston of Reconnecting America, author Chris Leinberger, and Slate’s Matthew Yglesias at 11.

If you take Metro, be aware of track work on the Red and Orange Lines north/west of Grosvenor and Ballston and north/east of NoMA and Stadium-Armory. DDOT is also setting up more temporary bike racks to handle the extra bike parking demand. Finally, Anacostia Waterfront Initiative officials and consultant CH2M Hill have set up a 25-lane racetrack oval. No, not really that last one.

For Montgomery County residents, there are 2 great opportunities to talk about transportation’s future next week (and in the same spot!) The Action Committee for Transit’s monthly meeting features WMATA planning head Shyam Kannan talking about the Metro “Momentum” strategic plan. That’s Tuesday, February 12, 7:30 pm at the Silver Spring Civic Center, One Veterans Place.

Wednesday, The Coalition for Smarter Growth is holding a forum on the “next generation of transit.” How can the county accommodate 200,000 new residents and 100,000 jobs in the next 20 years? It will take investments in Metro, the Purple Line, and bus rapid transit.

Geoff Anderson, head of Smart Growth America, and Councilmember Roger Berliner will speak about the future of Montgomery County, and there will be presentations on transit projects in the pipeline. The forum is Wednesday, February 13, 6-8 pm at the Silver Spring Civic Center, still One Veterans Plaza. RSVP here.

Meanwhile, in Virginia, the Piedmont Environmental Council is holding a public meeting to talk about the McDonnell Administration’s push for an Outer Beltway through Loudoun and Prince William. It’s Monday, February 11, 6:30-9 pm at John Champe High School, 41535 Sacred Mountain Street, Aldie, VA.

Also, a film about plastic bags is screening Sunday in Hyattsville; John Muller is giving another tour of Frederick Douglass’s Anacostia February 23; and the Anacostia Watershed Society is holding a “Green Roof Networking Happy Hour on Tuesday, February 26.

Photo courtesy of Read G on Flickr

Read the original article here. >>