Category: Stopping Sprawl & Highway Projects

RELEASE: Advocates Call for Alternatives to Governor’s Toll Lane Plan 

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

Today the Moore Administration announced it will seek a federal grant to advance former Gov. Hogan’s defective plan for toll lanes on I-495 across the American Legion Bridge to the I-270 spur, and the I-270 west spur. 

Our partners and policy makers have proposed a range of toll-lane alternatives that can provide congestion relief alone or in combination. These include bus rapid transit networks on parallel roads; incentives for telework and flexible work hours; converting a lane on I-495 for bus, vanpools and HOV; reversible lanes during rush hour; metered ramps and other features included in the successful Innovation Congestion Management Program on I-270; addressing the East-West economic, racial and commuting divide through transit-oriented development; quickly completing the Purple Line and planning for Metrorail or light rail over the American Legion and Woodrow Wilson Bridges.

TAKE ACTION: Tell your elected officials which projects to delete and which to add

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

Our region’s road building isn’t reducing traffic. In fact, it’s fueling more spread-out development (sprawl) and even more driving and traffic. The regional long-range transportation plan includes 900 more lane-miles in proposed road expansion! 

But you have a chance now to speak out against wasteful road expansion and FOR smart growth, with better transit, safer streets for walking and biking, and also better maintaining the roads we’ve already built to handle climate change. With so much at stake, including our regional goals for climate, equity, safety and reducing sprawl, your voice is critical.

TAKE ACTION: Tell VDOT to prioritize walkable, transit-friendly communities in its climate strategy

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

Your feedback is critical to ensure that VDOT prioritizes fostering walkable, transit-friendly communities connected by clean, convenient intercity rail and bus systems rather than continuing to pave over Virginia and making communities more car-dependent and less safe to walk and bike.  

RELEASE: Wider Roads Fail and the Public Knows This

RELEASE: Wider Roads Fail and the Public Knows This

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

In short, the public understands that “induced demand” is real, even if they are not aware of the term itself. Today, when officials in the DC region are planning for at least 900 more lane miles of highway and arterial road expansion and amid the ongoing debate over high-occupancy toll lanes for 495/270 in Maryland and 495 through Alexandria, the Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG) urged officials to reconsider these plans.

TAKE ACTION: Fix our region’s multi-billion $ transportation plan

TAKE ACTION: Fix our region’s multi-billion $ transportation plan

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

You have a chance now to speak out against wasteful road expansion and FOR smart growth, with better transit, safer streets for walking and biking, and also better maintaining the roads we’ve already built to handle climate change. With so much at stake, including our regional goals for climate, equity, safety and reducing sprawl, your voice is critical.

TAKE ACTION: A townhouse ban is not the way to guide us to smart, equitable development

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

Prince George’s County Council is considering a bill to freeze new townhouse construction for 2 years. We agree that too much growth is occurring outside priority centers, leading to increased traffic and high infrastructure costs, while diverting resources from existing communities. But a townhouse ban is an overly broad, indiscriminate approach that overlooks the underlying problems of Prince George’s zoning: too much single family zoning across the vast acres outside the beltway, and not enough flexible residential and mixed use zoning inside the beltway.

CSG in the News: Loudoun County Breaks Ground On A New “Missing Link” Road

CSG in the News: Loudoun County Breaks Ground On A New “Missing Link” Road

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

Schwartz says officials appear to be building an outer beltway link by link rather than drawing attention to it by calling it an outer beltway. “They’ve condemned Northern Virginia into a ceaseless cycle of road building. It is not enhancing the quality of life.”

Testimony: MD State Highway Administration FY24 budget oversight hearing

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

The Transform Maryland Transportation Coalition is asking MDOT to flex 50% of the federal funds, as allowed by federal law, from the Surface Transportation Block Grant and National Highway Performance Program formulas towards needed investments in eligible transit, safer streets, bicycle, and pedestrian projects, and vehicle electrification.