M-83 Archives - Coalition For Smarter Growth

Tag: M-83

Action Alert: Montgomery County needs transit and connected communities, not more highways

Posted on October 18, 2024October 29, 2024 by Ayesha Amsa

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If built, the outdated Mid-County Highway Extended (M-83) would destroy farmland, forests and wetlands in its path through the Seneca Creek watershed.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.

Testimony: Removing M-83 from Master Plan of Highways and Transitways (Montgomery County, Support)

Posted on October 17, 2024October 17, 2024 by Ayesha Amsa

We are grateful to Planning staff for their attention to the public feedback they have received concerning M-83. Organizations including CSG and Transit Alternatives to Mid-County Highway Extended (TAME) and other community members have been raising serious concerns about the community and environmental impact of M-83 for years. We have documented how M-83 is unnecessary and that local street connections combined with bus rapid transit and walkable, transit-accessible communities would meet future needs.

REPORT: The Case for Cancelling the Mid-County Highway Extended (M-83)

Posted on June 1, 2019June 2, 2022 by Ayesha Amsa

CSG and TAME support the low impact alternatives 2 and 5 that make improvements to 355, while opposing Alternatives 4, 8, and 9. We have been calling for a transit alternative to be considered as well, though one has not been studied to this date.

Transit advocates see midcounty problems

Posted on March 27, 2015June 14, 2022 by Claire Zippel

“Even more telling is that in the draft EER (Environmental Effects Report), you can see that with alternative 9, the same intersections in the southern (already built) portion of Midcounty Highway continue to fail. If you open up a new stretch of road that will attract more commuters heading north to south to the same failing intersections, what do you think is going to happen?” Blynn said.

Montgomery chooses route for new road between Gaithersburg and Clarksburg

Posted on March 20, 2015June 15, 2022 by Claire Zippel

As with any major transportation project, the Midcounty Highway extension is controversial. Some residents and smart-growth advocates say the road-building money would be better spent on a bus rapid transit system to reduce traffic by allowing people to forego driving. Other critics said it would cause too much environmental damage and run too close to neighborhoods.