Say no to highway expansion and more traffic
Category: Take Action
Take action: Support passage of MD transportation reforms!
Thanks to you and other advocates, we have advanced a set of transportation reform bills through the Maryland House of Delegates. Now we need to do a final push to win adoption in the Maryland Senate so Governor Moore can sign them into law!
This legislation to guide Maryland’s transportation priorities is especially important if the state adds new revenues and spending. Key bills in the Senate Budget & Taxation Committee that CSG supports are:
Transit-Oriented Development (HB 80) – MDOT’s amended bill relieves parking mandates and allows mixed use development in proximity to Metrorail, Purple Line, and most MARC stations. It also removes potential obstacles to transit-oriented development plans on state-owned land.
Transportation and Climate Alignment Act (HB 84) – MDOT is supporting this bill that would require the agency to evaluate its transportation projects to ensure they help Maryland meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets and provide alternatives to driving.
Metro Funding Modification Act (HB 467) – Maryland, DC and Virginia came together in 2018 to successfully fund Metro’s capital needs. As a result, Metro service today is faster, more frequent, and more reliable. However, the $500M in annual funding was not indexed to inflation, risking future funding shortfalls and declining reliability and safety. This bill would index the funding to inflation.
Work Group on Reorganization of MTA (HB 517) – Creates a study group to separate the MARC, Purple Line, and Commuter Bus systems from MTA’s local Baltimore transit focus. This would better ensure a focus on modernization and improved operations for MARC and a successful Purple Line service.
More transportation funding – The just released joint Senate/House budget proposal would increase transportation funding by $500 million per year using an increase in the state tax on capital gains and other measures.
Thanks for helping build a better Maryland!
Take action: Urge Congress to act quickly to pass DC Local Funds Act (S.1077)
Urge Congress to unfreeze DC’s spending authority for its own funds
Take action! Contact your representatives to support the Maryland Housing for Jobs Act
Support the 2025 Housing for Jobs Act!
Maryland has a housing shortage that is making it harder for people to afford to live here and is holding back our economy per this state report. And even when people have managed to find a more affordable home, it’s often been in outer areas far from jobs and services, meaning more sprawl, more driving, higher transportation costs, and more climate pollution.
The Housing for Jobs Act (HB 503/SB 430) would set regional housing targets based on the number of jobs in a given set of counties grouped by their area of the state. It would set clear standards for approving and denying new housing when counties haven’t met their housing to jobs ration, giving extra credit to localities who create housing near transit and to those who create affordable housing.
Click here to read CSG’s testimony, and use the buttons above to contact your state representatives to ask them to support the Housing for Jobs Act!
Photo credit: Carrie Kisicki
Alert: Support affordable transit-oriented housing at Glenridge Purple Line station in Prince George’s
Send a message to the Prince George’s Planning board by Tuesday, March 11, 12 noon
We’ve advocated for the Purple Line. We’ve advocated more affordable housing – especially at rail transit. Well, here it is! The first new affordable apartments steps away from the Glenridge Purple Line station. Please join us in voicing our support!
This proposal for 245 affordable apartments, right next to the Purple Line, is the first step towards realizing the planned Glenridge Transit Village. It will provide homes for low and moderate income households in a location that will reduce how much residents have to drive and spend on transportation.
Much more needs to be done by the county and state to transform this very suburban, automobile-dominated area into a walkable community, but this project is a good first step. We’re asking for the amount of parking to be reduced for this project and for a direct walking connection to the transit station. And, we will be pressing the county and state to make it safer to walk and bike to this and every Purple Line station.
We recognize that the site is currently wooded, but it is a fragment surrounded by development. Allowing more people to live here, steps away from frequent rail transit at this inside the Beltway location means less driving, traffic and pollution for households who otherwise might have to live elsewhere. Additionally, the project will fund offsite forest conservation to offset trees removed from the site, while providing modern stormwater management onsite to control runoff and water quality.
Want to know more? Check out the Prince George’s Planning Board March 13, 2025 Agenda Packet on the Flats at Glenridge Station.
Action Alert: We have power in numbers! Join us to say no to M-83 (MoCo)
We need your help at a hearing this Thursday to finally stop an outdated, destructive highway and to protect sensitive forests and wetlands. If built, the Mid-County Highway Extended (M-83) would cut through farmland, forests and wetlands in its path through the Seneca Creek watershed.
Action Alert: Montgomery County needs transit and connected communities, not more highways
Dear friend,
Since the 1950s, traffic engineers have told us new highways would solve traffic. We now know that’s not true. We also know that highways divide neighborhoods and pollute our air. We know that more walkable communities linked to transit provide a better, more sustainable approach.
If built, the outdated Mid-County Highway Extended (M-83) would destroy farmland, forests and wetlands in its path through the Seneca Creek watershed. It is time to remove this destructive and unnecessary proposed highway from the county’s official master plans.
Contact the Planning Board today to ask them to remove M-83 from the Master Plan of Highways and Transit (MPOHT).
Take action: Don’t build this harmful highway
For years, CSG and partners have put forward a transit-based combination of solutions, including bus rapid transit, better street connectivity, and improved bike and pedestrian connections upcounty as an alternative to building M-83.
Analysis by CSG and the TAME Coalition, and later, by the county’s own Department of Transportation—has found that forthcoming transit investments, including bus rapid transit (BRT) on MD-355, will provide significant transportation improvements without the environmental harms of M-83.
Strong support for removing M-83 from county plans
County leadership and community and environmental organizations alike join CSG in supporting M-83’s removal from the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways, including:
- County Executive Marc Elrich
- Montgomery County Department of Transportation
- Transit Alternatives to Mid-County Highway Extended (TAME)
- Sierra Club of Montgomery County
- Action Committee for Transit
- Montgomery Village Foundation
- Muddy Branch Alliance
- Seneca Creek Watershed Partners
- Climate Coalition Montgomery County (including CCAN, Montgomery Countryside Alliance, and MCFACS)
Read our 2015 report and visit TAME’s website to learn more.
What’s next, and how you can help
In addition to using our alert to contact the board, please also consider attending these upcoming community meetings and hearings about M-83 and the Master Plan of Highways and Transit:
October 21, 2024: Virtual Public Meeting, 6PM (RSVP)
October 23, 2024: In-Person Public Meeting at Neelsville Middle School, 6PM (RSVP)
November 14, 2024: Planning Board Hearing on MPOHT (sign up to testify)
Contact the Planning Board: Remove M-83 from the MPOHT
Let’s take a step forward for better, more sustainable transportation upcounty, and away from an outdated and environmentally harmful project.
Get ready for attainable housing listening sessions!
The County Council and Montgomery Planning have announced dates for six upcoming attainable housing listening sessions. Make your voice heard in support of more housing options for Montgomery County—register today to attend an attainable housing listening session!
Request a presentation of our “Blueprint for a Better Region”!
Fill out this form to request a Blueprint presentation for your community groups, organization, civic association, etc. CSG staff will follow up with you to confirm other details.
Take Action: Do you want an even better Metro & bus? Take this survey!
CSG is at the table with leaders from DC, Maryland, and Virginia in “DMVMoves” – an initiative to create an updated transit vision and to (finally!) identify dedicated funding. This is the most important initiative in years to create a world-class regional transit network – with financial stability – for years to come.