Mr. Paul Wiedefeld
Secretary, Maryland Department of Transportation
7201 Corporate Center Drive
Hanover, MD 21076
Hon. Angela Alsobrooks
County Executive
Hon. Jolene Ivey
Prince George’s County District Council Chair
Wayne K. Curry Administration Building
1301 McCormick Drive, Largo MD
Dear Sec. Weidenfeld, County Executive Alsobrooks and County Council Chair Ivey:
Please accept this testimony on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG), the leading organization advocating for walkable, bikeable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities as the most sustainable and equitable way for the Washington, DC region to grow and provide opportunities for all. We also support and work closely with RISE Prince George’s, a group of county residents and allies advocating for policies and practices that build shared, sustainable prosperity in Prince George’s County by creating safe, walkable, inclusive and transit-oriented communities. The following testimony reflects the views of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.
Summary statement
- Applaud the CTP’s commitment to WMATA and local transit operations: Overall, we want to commend the MDOT’s priorities in a difficult budget year. We applaud the state’s leadership on meeting the obligation for WMATA funding.
- Appreciate Complete Streets investments over 6 years: We recognize the significance of the Complete Streets Program which allocates over $86 million statewide in the next six years to planning, engineering, and construction of street projects guided by the Pedestrian Safety Action Plan.
- Rethink road capacity expansion projects: We appreciate the pausing of many problematic roadway capacity expansion projects, such as the proposed designs for an expanded Medical Center Drive and I-495 Interchange which undermines nearby TOD. We also request that these projects be fully reconsidered to provide safer, multimodal solutions that also support Maryland’s climate protection goal of reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT).
Detailed comments
Transit
We commend Maryland for continued funding of these key transit investments:
- WMATA funding
- Purple Line
- Locally Operated Transit Systems (LOTS) – supporting the Prince George’s County Local Bus Program.
We ask SHA and the County to ensure the implementation of the Silver Hill Road (MD 458) tactical bus lanes and preferential treatments to improve bus service in this high ridership corridor.
We commend the state for the $5 million investment in Transit Oriented Development Planning & Implementation, which will benefit the MARC Penn Line. Similar support is welcome for New Carrollton, and the Blue Line corridor.
Regarding MAGLEV: we ask the state to permanently suspend its (paused) work on assessing the Baltimore-Washington Superconducting Maglev (SCMAGLEV) proposal. This MAGLEV project is a solution in search of a problem. Instead, we support timely implementation of the Northeast Corridor (NEC) Connect 2037 Plan, with an eye towards the NEC Future long-term vision. An exclusive focus on the unique technology like MAGLEV is not the place to begin the assessment of how to improve rail travel in the mid Atlantic corridor.
Complete Streets Program
We commend MDOT for the allocation of $86.5 million to this important program, while we hope the CTP’s $10.5 million decrease next year can be restored. This laudable program uses the Pedestrian Safety Action Plan (PSAP) prioritization as its guide, beginning with the MD 650 (New Hampshire Avenue), and MD 410 (East-West Highway), followed with MD 214 (Central Avenue), and MD 201 (Kenilworth Avenue) corridors in Prince George’s. In the future, we ask that MD 458 (Silver Hill Road) be added. We urge SHA to start with quick build, low cost interventions that take weeks and months not years to put in place. It is urgent to put critical safety improvements in place such as road diets (reduced number of lanes), closing of free right turn/slip lanes, lane width reduction, and other measures to reduce the design speed of roadways and minimize exposure of people walking and riding bicycles to high-speed motor vehicles. Continued effort to use low-cost, quick build interventions are essential to deploy needed safety measures to the remainder of PSAP corridors, and the many other state roadways where people face the risks of high-speed traffic.
Roadway Projects
Rethink highway capacity expansion projects because we cannot afford to keep investing in ever bigger roads and intersections that chase sprawl development while neglecting enhanced transit, walk and bicycle facilities, and road retrofits especially for existing towns, cities, transit station areas, and inside the beltway communities. All projects should also advance the State of Maryland’s adopted goal to reduce VMT and GHG emissions. We ask that the expense of the proposed capacity expansion projects be reconsidered for less costly safety interventions, improved commuter transit service, bus priority and BRT; and TDM programs. Projects we ask MDOT to reconsider and redesign include:
- Medical Center Drive & I-495 interchange expansion: This major capacity expansion of the existing interchange will greatly degrade already poor pedestrian access. With the project on hold, it’s timely to fully assess alternatives – beyond a wider path with pedestrian access from both sides of the roadway – that build safer multimodal access that support a transit-oriented downtown. A direct connection with a Central Avenue Connector Trail bridge should also be accelerated from Largo to Morgan Boulevard as part of this process.
- MD 4, Pennsylvania Avenue & Suitland interchange construction – a new interchange construction at MD 4 and Suitland Parkway. The 6 year total capital budget is $173.5M. This project was designed to support the poorly located new Westphalia development outside the beltway. We ask the state to reconsider this project to find a less costly roadway design to manage vehicular traffic, and reallocate construction funds to multimodal roadway projects inside the beltway and around Metro stations.
- MD 210, Indian Head Highway grade-separated interchanges from I-95/ I-495 to MD 228 (10 miles). The FY25 CTP budgets ongoing engineering costs of $10.5 million. Reconsider these MD 210 projects to address safety without capacity expansion. Consider TDM programs and bus transit priority to address long distance commuters. We support advancing the recommended shared use path along MD 210.
- MD 5, Branch Avenue Project to convert MD 5 to a multilane freeway from US 301 interchange at T.B. to north of I-95/I-495 Capital Beltway (10.5 miles). Reconsider expanding capacity but address safety. Consider TDM and priority bus treatments to improve commuting options for long distance commuters.
- VDOT I-495 Southside Express Lanes Study — This VDOT study does not adequately address Maryland’s concerns and should be rethought. Maryland should be ensuring that the VDOT NEPA study evaluates in detail a robust set of sustainable alternatives to highway expansion such as near-term conversion of shoulder lanes to bus/HOV lanes, new expanded travel demand management programs, and a longer-term Metrorail and transit-oriented development alternative. Maryland also needs to ensure that VDOT adequately analyzes the impacts of potentially moving the traffic bottleneck to Prince George’s and that it commits to funding expanded transit services for Maryland residents and workers crossing the Wilson Bridge. While this project is not in the CTP, MDOT will need to engage with VDOT to redirect the study, as VDOT actions would have significant impacts on Maryland.
Again, we appreciate the priority that MDOT has made to transit and complete streets. We urge MDOT and the County to work to revise roadway capacity expansion projects to address safety, create safe, multimodal travel environments, and avoid endless cycles of expanded capacity.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Cort
Policy Director