More drums boom for wider I-270
Last night it was my pleasure to tape a show with Charles Duffy of Montgomery Municipal Cable's "Political Pulse" down in Kensington. The GPS lady said to take the Capital Beltway. Experience said otherwise, and I took a combination of non-interstate routes through Burtonsville and Wheaton. It worked out fine -- even though I was traveling at rush hour.
One of the main topics was the proposal to spend $4.6 billion on a sprawl-enabling, polluting, futile and wasteful widening of Interstate 270. Duffy was kind enough to give the the opportunity to explain why this is not such a grand idea from a Baltimore point of view.
But while I was off pontificating, other forces were at work advancing the bank-breaking project, Maryland Politics Watch reports. It seems that business and labor have formed an unholy alliance in support of what would be the most expensive transportation project in Maryland history.
There is no sign that the O'Malley administration is showing much interest in the road-widening project, though it is supportive of a transit lline in the I-270 corridor. But there are enough drums beating for the project in Montgomery to warrant vigilance on the part of political leaders from Baltimore and elsewhere in the state.
Comments
It's someone's turn to earn smart growth votes. Somebody needs to take a firm stand on this lunacy.
Posted by: Jed | October 13, 2009 1:17 PM
In "Field of Dreams" it was said: "build it and they will come". Well folks, if you don't build it they seem to come anyway.
While I appreciate that the highway contractors and their employees also have mortgages to pay and kids to feed... I think I'd rather see less building for a decade or so.
The real problem isn't that the roads aren't big enough the problem is that there are just too damned many people expecting to use them... whether its 270 or Liberty Road. Too many people.
Posted by: MrRational | October 13, 2009 10:19 PM
Screw this HOT lanes crap. I-270 needs to be widened to 8 lanes from Germantown to Frederick. The HOT lanes are an abomination, as they rely on congestion in the free lanes to maximize their revenues.
And why fund the widening with money from Baltimoreans when you can congestion-price the entire highway, including the spur, from the DC Beltway to Reich's Ford Road (where it is actually U.S. 15). When commuters realize that it will cost 25 or 30 dollars to drive I-270 from DC to Frederick and points north during rush hour, you'll see lots of demand for MARC, carpooling, express buses, and the bloody Corridor Cities Transitway.
Of course, to congestion-price the road, you'd need tolling permission from the feds, or an application for one of their congestion-pricing grants, but I doubt you would support those options, either, as it appears to me that you want I-270 to remain a pathetic, congested, 4-lane country road and force everybody onto buses and choo-choos.
Incidentally, tolling the highway would curb sprawl, as people would wish to live closer to work to save money.
Posted by: mpetrie98 | October 14, 2009 2:01 PM