Invest In Metro, Not the Techway

A "sprawlway" highway across the Potomac and through the agricultural reserve and existing neighborhoods would dramatically reshape the environmental, economic, and social character of the region long into the next century. As much as the Board of Trade may like to wrap their current favorite highway in the cloak of smart growth, an outer beltway is not smarter growth, it is a tool for continued sprawl and the public isn’t fooled.

We all know that building highways won’t solve our traffic problems. It is time for 21st century solutions that include focusing new development along the spine of Metro and in town centers, expanding our transit system to access major job centers like Tyson’s Corner, and integrating our transportation and land use planning to make great strides in offering real access to jobs, shopping, and services and create a region where people want to live and businesses will continue to be attracted.

Don’t Be Fooled: Techway = Sprawl

Backers of the so-called "techway", really a "sprawlway" make sweet promises that it will be a "parkway." But the "parkway" promise is merely a Trojan Horse for a highway that will create huge pressure to develop in Montgomery County’s agricultural reserve, just as the Baltimore-Washington Parkway is currently being pierced by an interchange for Arundel Mills Mall. Let’s not be fooled, a "parkway" is still a highway that will harm the Potomac River, the historic C&O Canal, parks, streams and wildlife areas on both sides of the river.

It is time to move away from the highway building solutions of the 1950’s, to create a region with real travel choices including biking, walking, transit and driving. There is solid evidence that linking land use, transit, bike and pedestrian networks, and pricing changes will both help relieve traffic and create better communities. It is time for a new approach.

Threat to DC & Prince George’s Economy
(198 words)

The so-called "techway," and an Outer Beltway in any form, is a direct threat to the economy of the District of Columbia and Prince George’s County. History teaches us that bypasses don’t relieve traffic, but they do shift public investment away from downtowns. A highway that permanently shifts more technology jobs away from DC and Prince George’s County should not be a priority. What we really need is a "Techway" to the District and to Prince George’s County.

Instead of spending millions on a highway that will further the economic divide in this region, why aren’t the region’s business leaders taking a fiscally responsible approach and ensuring that we make the best use of our existing investments? There are plenty of Metro stations that could accommodate new offices, housing and shopping, especially in Prince George’s County. We need a region united economically, socially and environmentally. As a recent Washington Post Magazine article noted, major highway projects divide our region physically and philosophically. It is time to all get behind common priorities like access to jobs, healthy economic development and options to get out of traffic. Let’s start by providing more jobs, housing and shopping at our Metro stations.

Impact on Outer Counties
(140 words)

In spurring development far from the urban core, the so called "techway" will increase the development pressure on outer counties like Loudoun and Frederick. A new highway will make it more difficult for Loudoun County to enact its own plans for managing growth in a way that preserves open space, reduces traffic and preserves the quality of life people in Loudoun treasure. History teaches us that bypasses and beltways don’t relieve traffic, but they do serve as a magnet for public and private investment. Our current beltway is a prime example, it was supposed to serve as a bypass for interstate traffic. It failed as a bypass, but successfully steered development to the highway corridor and ten to twenty miles beyond it.

We don’t need another beltway that will bring more traffic and more sprawl, we have enough of that.