On Tuesday, the County Council voted 10-1 to remove the unbuilt portion of Mid-County Highway Extended (M-83) from county plans.  This was a victory decades in the making! 

Left on the books since the 1960s but largely unbuilt, M-83 offered false hope that extra road capacity could solve upcounty traffic problems. If built, it would have bulldozed farms, forests, streams, and wildlife in its path.

With this vote, our county leaves behind an outdated and harmful highway plan, and can focus on real, meaningful transportation investments upcounty. 

Thank you for your advocacy!

This win took a village. I am the fourth CSG Montgomery Advocacy Manager to have worked on this campaign (shout out to Kelly Blynn, Pete Tomao, and Jane Lyons-Raeder!) and am proud to have worked alongside dedicated advocates at TAME, ACT, and other partners who have advocated to remove M-83 for decades, as well as a new generation of advocates like Eco MoCo, led by high school and middle school students.

Over the years, CSG joined leading advocates at TAME in forums, walking tours, and research, reports, and testimony that demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the proposed highway, its environmental and community harms, and the benefits of more sustainable alternatives.

And we couldn’t have done it without you, our network of CSG supporters and advocates. In the past year alone, over 200 CSG supporters contacted the Planning Board and the County Council to support the removal of M-83 from county plans. That’s over 1,350 total emails!

What happens next?

Better street connections, safe bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and investments in frequent, reliable public transit all can help provide much needed transportation improvements upcounty—and upcounty residents need these changes sooner rather than later. 

When combined with mixed-use walkable neighborhood designs, these solutions will reduce the amount people have to drive, shortening car trips and increasing walking, biking, and transit use. 

As part of their vote on the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways, the Council approved an amendment to fund a comprehensive upcounty transportation study. CSG plans to support the special appropriation for this study at its September 30 hearing (sign-up opens August 1).

Once more, with feeling—THANK YOU, and let’s celebrate this win! 

I am so grateful for your support as we celebrate this victory, and I look forward to continuing to work with you all to win the sustainable transportation solutions upcounty residents need!