Author: MoveMDweb

This Wednesday, July 19, the COG Transportation Planning Board (TPB), will finalize the list of projects in their long-term study (details below). The public is invited to testify and your input is crucial, either in person or via email (using the button below).

What TPB is voting on

In light of studies showing our current long-range plans do not have enough capacity to handle future travel needs for our region, and if we don’t add major new transit and road capacity, congestion gets much worse, TPB is studying 10 major projects to see what impacts they would have, including two projects SMTA has long supported (because previous studies show they would be highly effective):

  • Regional Express Travel Network * Express toll lanes network (free to HOV and transit) with added lanes where feasible on existing limited access highways (including remaining portion of the Capital Beltway, I-270, Dulles Toll Road, U.S. 50); includes expanded American Legion Bridge.
  • Additional Northern Bridge Crossing / Corridor * New northern bridge crossing of Potomac River, as a multimodal corridor

Key Talking Points

We are urging TPB to support of the resolution as drafted by TPB staff and their Long-Range Planning Task Force. The key issue is whether or not remove any reference to new bridge crossings in this long-term study.

  • The only purpose of TPB Long-Range Planning Task Force was to look at major new projects like a new bridge, that are not in current plans. To take this out would be to abdicate TPB’s core responsibility to make sure the region has the facts and has looked at all options.
  • There are several potential bridge routes that have NO impact on the Agricultural Reserve that should be studied – we won’t know if this is viable or not until we look at the facts
  • Both I-270 express lanes AND a bridge are crucial – it’s not one or the other – and since I-270 is already in the plan, the only question is to study a bridge crossing or not
  • Previous studies show a new bridge could divert from 40,000 to 105,000 trips a day OFF the American Legion Bridge, which is by far the region’s worst traffic choke point. How could TPB justify a long-term study that did not include this?
  • A new bridge could save commuters 67,000 hours per day
  • Why are bridge opponents so afraid of a study? Regional leaders need to ask them why they don’t want the public to have the facts.

How to testify

  • In Person: Show up at the Council of Governments between 11:15 and 11:30am, Wednesday, July 19th (you need to be there early to sign up, just ask for the public comment list. Each speaker gets 3 minutes and several of us will be there to assist you). The office is walking distance from Union Station and there is plenty of parking in nearby garages. Here is the address: 777 North Capitol Street NE, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20002
  • Written Comments: If you are sending comments, it is preferable to send them via this form/link or by email at least the day before and the staff will distribute them to the TPB members. TRY TO DO THIS TODAY. Your comments do not have to be long, but use any of the talking points above, or your own words to clearly state why the region needs to study all options for traffic relief.

14317513_10154549555773781_4197299944284408040_nArea leaders, including U.S. Representatives John Delaney and Chris Van Hollen, and a host of local and state officials from Montgomery and Frederick Counties, gathered today to launch a new coalition effort to re-start two long-delayed project studies that hold great promise for unlocking the severe traffic nightmare that is I-270 during both rush-hours. Congressman Delaney is the group’s Honorary Chair and played a key role in its creation.

The bipartisan group of business, civic and elected leaders will press for multimodal solutions, including new express-toll lanes and regional bus-rapid-transit (BRT) using those new lanes, with the current general-purpose lanes remaining free of charge. Two project studies, the I-270/US 15 Multimodal Corridor Study and the Western Mobility Study have been on hold for decades and would be necessary to complete before any long-term construction projects to add significant new lane capacity could begin.  The Fix270Now coalition is urging leaders in both parties to make restarting those project studies a top priority, and to include a multimodal express-toll and BRT alternative, running from the Virginia side of the American Legion Bridge, up the 270 Spur and the entire I-270 corridor, all the way to Frederick.

In the short term, the coalition is supporting efforts by Governor Larry Hogan to upgrade key interchanges and provide an additional $100 million to explore innovative congestion management strategies.

In the long-run, studies show the addition of new toll lanes integrated with a regional BRT system that includes the long-planned Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT) would improve peak-hours speeds for outbound travelers in the afternoon rush-hour by up to 87%, and for inbound morning rush-hour travelers by up to 70%.

Maryland cannot afford further delay on proven steps to keep traffic in the state’s number-one job-creation corridor moving.  SMTA is strongly supporting this effort, as both I-270 and the American Legion Bridge are among our top-priority projects that area transportation experts identified as urgent investment priorities to support our region’s economy and protect our quality-of-life. Please take a moment to add your support for this important effort by using the “sign-up” button at Fix270Now.org. Let’s get Maryland moving!

img_20160919_074500

 

Morning rush-hour conditions created the perfect backdrop for the launching of Fix270Now.

pln_logo_sharp_smallPurple Line Now is hosting a forum at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Services center September 29th to explore Denver’s experience with a light-rail line delivered through a public-private partnership, as is also the case with Maryland’s Purple Line.

Guests are invited to sign up in advance to attend. Click this link to RSVP.

The Purple Line is one of SMTA’s top-priority projects and would help connect the region and more effectively utilize our current Metro system, enabling tens of thousands more residents to enjoy faster, more efficient east-west trips from Bethesda to College Park and other destinations and spark greater economic investment in key inside-the-Beltway communities.

Construction was expected to begin by the end of 2016, however, legal challenges have once again delayed this priority project. More information is available at the Purple Line Now website, including updates on the project’s status and this latest court challenge.

 

A recent poll released today at a briefing of area leaders shows transportation is by far the top long-term concern for residents of the Greater Washington Region. Overwhelming majorities also favor significant new investments in both the area’s highway and mass transit networks. Large majorities in this regional poll of 800 residents in Maryland, DC and Virginia support:

  • Investing in the core capacity of the existing Metro system (though not necessarily its further expansion);
  • plus major new multi-modal investments to widen and redesign several highway corridors, including I-270, the Capital Beltway,  portions of I-66, and the American Legion Bridge, adding new express-toll lanes and regional bus-rapid-transit service on each;
  • as well as Virginia’s Bi-County Parkway, a new Potomac River bridge crossing north of the American Legion Bridge, and two new transit lines in Maryland, the Purple Line and Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT).

Public support for all of these projects was exceptionally strong, ranging from 4-to-1 to 12-to-1 margins, in all cases. The survey was conducted by OpinionWorks and commissioned by the Suburban Maryland Transportation Alliance (SMTA) and the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance (NVTA).  A summary of findings is provided in our April 18th press release.

“Washington-area residents are clearly fed up with traffic and want to see more investment in both transit and roads,” said SMTA Chair Jennifer Russel. “We need to stop looking at this as a ‘roads vs. transit’ issue; people want to see a lot more investment in both.”

In addition to the findings on several major transit and road projects that have been recommended by area experts, the poll also found:

  • Area residents see transportation as the greatest long-term issue or challenge facing the region, by a 3-to-1 margin over the next highest answer (jobs/economy) to an open-ended question
  • Residents give the region’s transportation an average grade of “C”, but by a margin of nearly 2-to-1 feel it is getting worse instead of better
  • Residents identify “reducing traffic congestion and delays” as the most important transportation priority for the region by a margin of nearly 2-to-1 over the next highest answer (maintenance)
  • 84% of area residents favor investing in both roads and transit, rather than one or the other
  • 80% of commuters drive or carpool to work; 18% use transit; 4% walk or bike (NOTE: commuting accounts for 20% of all daily trips)
  • 86% of non-commuting trips are by car; 5% use transit; 8% walk or bike (NOTE: non-commuting trips account for 80% of all daily trips)

Among the major projects tested:

  • 67% favor the Purple Line in Maryland (44% strongly support), only 10% are opposed (5% strongly)
  • 59% favor the CCT in Maryland (34% strongly), only 9% are opposed (7% strongly)
  • 70% favor widening I-66 outside the Beltway in Virginia (34% strongly), 12% are opposed (6% strongly)
  • 70% favor widening/redesigning I-270 as a multi-modal corridor in Maryland (47% strongly), only 10% are opposed (5% strongly)
  • 54% favor the Bi-County Parkway in Virginia (25% strongly); 13% are opposed (6% strongly)
  • 71% favor widening/redesigning the Maryland Beltway to add express-toll lanes and regional express-bus service (47% strongly), 11% are opposed (7% strongly)
  • 59% favor adding new express-toll lanes and regional express-bus service to the American Legion Bridge (36% strongly), 13% are opposed (7% strongly)
  • 59% favor building a new bridge crossing north of the American Legion Bridge (39% strongly), 11% are opposed (7% strongly)
  • 75% favor investing in new Metro cars to provide 8-car trains (51% strongly), only 6% are opposed (3% strongly)

Other key findings:

  • By a large majority (67% to 27%), area residents feel Metro should focus more on maintenance and system reliability, as opposed to further expansion of the system.
  • 60% of residents say they would be willing to pay a little more to fund projects that reduce congestion, with 36% opposed; although there is no consensus on a specific funding proposal (none of those tested reached majority support)

The results were unveiled at a briefing today at Marriott International, Inc., before an audience of business and community leaders, including U.S. Congressman John Delaney, Montgomery County Council President Nancy Floreen, Maryland Deputy Secretary of Transportation James Ports, and many others.  Here is the slideshow by OpinionWorks that was presented at the event.

NVTA President David Birtwistle noted the importance of these new findings: “There’s a real consensus among experts that these are the kinds of investments we need to make to significantly reduce congestion; and now we know the public is on the same page.”  “It’s time to get moving,” he concluded.

A similar list of projects has been tested using the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government’s (COG) regional traffic model, and significant improvements in congestion relief, travel time savings, economic growth and transit ridership were found. With a new willingness in Maryland and Virginia to consider toll-financing and public-private-partnerships, several viable options now exist to fund major new transportation projects of this magnitude without relying on more limited traditional sources.

Richard Parsons, SMTA Vice Chair, pointed out ongoing effort at COG’s Transportation Planning Board to study other unfunded projects not in the region’s Constrained Long-Range Plan: “Regional leaders are now in the process of looking at our current long-range plans, which everyone knows are not sustainable, and it would be a good idea to include these game-changing projects in that study.” “There are solutions to our traffic problems, and the public clearly and overwhelmingly supports them,” he concluded.

A total of 800 randomly-selected adult residents of the greater Washington region were interviewed by telephone December 1-5, 2015 by OpinionWorks LLC, a highly-respected independent research organization based in Annapolis that has done significant public opinion work in the DC region on environmental, transportation and other issues. The results of this survey have a potential sampling error of no greater than +/-3.5% at the 95% confidence level.

In the last week of the Maryland General Assembly, both the Maryland House and Senate narrowly voted to override Governor Larry Hogan’s veto of legislation (HB 1013), dubbed the “Maryland Open Transportation Investment Decision Act of 2016,” establishing new measures by which the Department of Transportation (MDOT)  is required to score future major capital projects.  SMTA has long been a vocal advocate for using objective performance criteria to evaluate and make funding decisions on major transportation projects across all modes.  However, we testified against this bill for several reasons.  Most importantly,  the particular standards and performance metrics that were originally included in the bill were badly flawed, arbitrary and did not even address the number-one issue to Maryland voters when it comes to transportation — traffic congestion.

Second, the state already uses a wide range of transportation performance standards for use in making funding and prioritization decisions, and has an extremely transparent process in which County priority letters are posted online, along with information on every major project, and MDOT officials come out to a series of public meetings in all 24 local jurisdictions, known as the annual “road show,” to go over their draft capital program, and solicit input and feedback from local officials and the public before the plan is finalized (and also available online for anyone to see).  This bill was meant to address a problem that does not exist, in our view at least.

For MDOT to develop standards, based on knowledgeable input from transportation professionals, with lots of public input along the way, is one thing.  For the General Assembly to legislate arbitrary standards that make no sense to transportation experts or voters, we thought would be counterproductive. MDOT officials and Governor Hogan agreed with that assessment but the General Assembly did not.

The good news is, the legislation was significantly amended to address the most glaring flaws in the standards, and the Department now has more flexibility in implementing this new mandate.  The bad news is, the legislature made the mistake of overriding a veto it should have let stand. This bill was not needed in the first place, was extremely poorly drafted initially, and will end up costing taxpayers for lots of extra work by MDOT staff that will not produce any significant improvement in either transparency or performance.

 

Maryland’s Board of Public Works, which include Governor Larry Hogan, Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot, and Maryland State Treasurer Nancy Kopp, approved a $5.6 billion contract for the Purple Line this week.  The contract includes both construction and operating costs, and make the Purple Line one of the largest transportation projects in recent Maryland history, significantly more expensive than the InterCounty Connector, another SMTA priority project, that has been operating for several years now in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties.

The Purple Line links key activity centers from Bethesda, to Silver Spring, Greenbelt and eventually New Carrollton, and is expected to yield billions in related economic development and job creation benefits, as well as providing significantly improved suburb-to-suburb transit service throughout this corridor.  The latest approval by the Board of Public Works marks one of the final steps in this long-anticipated project, which is expected to start construction as early as the end of this year.

For more, here is the Baltimore Sun’s coverage of this latest step forward in the Purple Line’s long-overdue march to completion.  The Baltimore Red Line, also noted in the article, was not approved by Governor Hogan due to its comparatively poor performance in attracting new transit riders and low cost-effectiveness ratings, which may have doomed its chances of ever winning federal funding anyway.  The Purple Line has long been among SMTA’s top transportation priorities for the Greater Washington region.

On Wednesday this week, Metro experienced a rare system-wide shut-down, as WMATA’s General Manager Paul Wiedefeld addressed urgent electrical issues that posed an urgent safety hazard according to Metro officials.  So what was the impact on area traffic?

The Washington Post ran a very interesting article in the Sunday edition analyzing the impacts.  It is worth a read.  Here is the link, if you missed it.

Metro clearly plays a key role in meeting the diverse travel needs of an even more diverse region, but the fact that people found ways to adjust significantly reduced the level of economic impact many would have expected from such a drastic move on such short notice.  It truly could have been much worse.

SMTA has long advocated for increased in Metro’s capital program, to improve reliability, safety and to keep the system in good repair by working through years of deferred maintenance.  This week’s closure is a sign that Metro’s poor state of repair is a real issue that regional leaders need to address far more effectively than they have to date — and that means coming up with a long-term solution to Metro’s chronic funding shortages through creation of a dedicated regional revenue source like every other major urban transit system in the United States (except Metro) already has.

 

 

In a major development in Annapolis today, Governor Larry Hogan just announced his support for the Purple Line, one of SMTA’s top-priority projects, and a major investment in Maryland’s underfunded roads and bridges across the state.  Details of his announcement include the following:

  1. Maryland will invest nearly $2 billion in long overdue road and bridge improvements all across the state (including two of SMTA’s top priorities – interim improvements to I-270 and construction of the Greenbelt interchange on 495).  The Governor is committed to restoring the local highway user funds that previous administrations have diverted from the Transportation Trust Fund.  This is a major victory for Maryland residents and will provide a significant boost to our economy for years to come.
  2. Maryland is moving forward with the Purple Line, at a reduced price-tag and with a couple of conditions (the continued federal commitment of $900 million and an increased commitment from Montgomery and Prince George’s County), but moving forward nonetheless, as SMTA has been advocating.
  3. Maryland will NOT move forward with Baltimore’s Red Line, which did not meet an acceptable level of cost-effectiveness in the Governor’s view.

This is a big win for Maryland and for SMTA and will help advance the road and transit projects we need to get Maryland moving!  Here is the Washington Post’s recent blog post on today’s news:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/2015/06/25/a255fe8c-1b4d-11e5-93b7-5eddc056ad8a_story.html

 

The Baltimore Sun reports today that Governor Hogan, after riding some of Japan’s most advanced maglev (Magnetic Levitation) train systems, some of which can exceed 300 mph, he will seek $28 million in grants to study bringing this technology to the Baltimore-Washington corridor.

Here is a link to the Baltimore Sun article:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-hogan-maglev-20150604-story.html

Various proposals have been put forward to introduce Maglev technology into the United States, and particularly the crowded Northeast corridor, as a way to provide more efficient city-to-city service. Cost estimates for a Maglev line from DC to Baltimore run into the billions, perhaps as much as $10 billion for construction, although operating costs for Maglev tend to be much lower than other transit modes because they can be more fully automated and have much few moving parts (wheels, brakes, bearings, etc.) that require extensive ongoing maintenance with heavy and light rail systems.

Moving forward with a study, as the Governor apparently wants to do, will answer a lot more questions about the practicality of such a system, but this is not anything that will likely be implemented soon, and much more immediate priorities for the DC region remain unfunded — a topic that will be the focus of SMTA’s upcoming Transportation Summit on June 12th.

Stay tuned.  Maglev may be a topic we’ll be hearing a lot more about in the future.

In the long debate over the InterCounty Connector (ICC), the project’s expected time-savings were often challenged by project opponents.  Turns out, as with most of their claims, the opponents were dead wrong.

A new study confirms travel time savings in this corridor as a result of the ICC that are right in line with the projections published in the Environmental Impact Statement documents and often cited by Maryland transportation officials and advocates in support of its construction.  How big are the time savings, now that the road is open?  Here is one of the tables from the report. See for yourself.

ICC Time Savings – Performing Even Better Than Advertised

time-savings-capture

Earlier studies released in 2013 noted significant numbers of trips were diverted off local roads once the ICC opened, and travel times and congestion levels on those surrounding roads had also dropped considerably; and overall usage of the ICC increased 40% in 2012 to over 30,000 trips a day, and has been steadily increasing every month since then, often by more than 2% per month. Weekday trips on the ICC are now comfortably meeting the projections for this facility, and it is having the desired impact on reducing congestion levels and improving travel times throughout the whole area.

For more information, here is a link to the study information.