Category: CSG in the News

Coalition for Smarter Growth Speaks Out on Rapid Transit

Posted on by Ted Van Houten

The Coalition for Smarter Growth has released the following regarding Rapid Transit in Montgomery County:

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 21st, 2013

Contacts:  Stewart Schwartz, Coalition for Smarter Growth, (703) 599-6437

 

Montgomery Planners Propose 78-Mile Rapid Transit system 

Today, Montgomery County planning staff present to the Planning Board a 78-mile version of the proposed Rapid Transit System, based on several months of data-driven modeling and analysis.  The Rapid Transit System would be a premium, reliable transit service using dedicated lanes as much as possible to bypass traffic, running frequently throughout the day, and stopping at enhanced stations featuring real time arrival information and efficient boarding like that found on Metro.

“The Rapid Transit System will complement the Purple Line and our Metro system, offering high quality transit to more of Montgomery County and helping to address traffic and future economic development. It is an essential investment, providing residents more affordable transportation and a better option than sitting in traffic,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

Facing an additional 200,000 residents, 200,000 new jobs, and a 22% increase in the amount of time residents will spend on roadways by 2040, planners know that the county’s roadways, already overburdened with traffic, will be unable to handle additional vehicles.  Their analysis, forecasting ridership to 2040, demonstrated that dedicating lanes to transit on several corridors could move more people per lane than individual vehicles, while improving traffic countywide.  They are recommending a phased approach based on that data, with a first phase that would include two lanes dedicated to the Rapid Transit System in the center of Rockville Pike and northern US29, and one reversible lane in the direction of rush hour traffic on parts of Georgia Ave, Viers Mill/University Blvd, and New Hampshire Avenue.   Their models show that their recommended network would attract a ridership of approximately 184,000 daily riders by 2040.

Said Lindsay Hoffman of Friends of White Flint, “We’ve come together in our neighborhoods and supported a vision for a walkable community in White Flint where it will be possible to leave the car at home and live a healthier, more affordable lifestyle.  Improved and expanded transit service on Rockville Pike is critical to making that vision possible, and we as residents will need to work together to ensure this proposal meets our communities’ needs and becomes a reality.”

“The planning staff’s network is smaller than the full Transit Task Force proposal but also much larger than the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) proposal.  The staff’s analysis is both rigorous and practical, and results in a network that can be effectively implemented,” concluded Schwartz.

In the planning staff’s brief, they reported, “ITDP did not do any ridership forecasting, whereas our transportation modeling work has shown that the forecast 2040 ridership on MD355 is far higher and we are confident that we should begin planning for a two-lane median busway for most of this corridor.”

The Montgomery County Planning Board will now have a month to review the staff’s recommendations before they release a draft for public hearings to be held in the beginning of May.  After public hearings, the Planning Board will submit their draft proposal to the County Council.

Read the original article here >>

The Smart (Growth) Crowd Weighs In

Posted on by Ted Van Houten

My smart growth buddies have issued a critique of the compromise transportation-funding deal. Among the highlights in the press release issued jointly today by the Coalition for Smarter Growth and the Piedmont Environmental Council:

Cutting gas taxes by up to one-third reduces the tie between transportation use and funding. “Transportation, unlike our schools, is like an electric utility, yet the primary fee—the gas tax—hasn’t been increased in 27 years. Transit users have been paying increased fares, year after year, yet road users would see a reduction in daily travel costs under the bill, leading to a potential shift from transit to driving, more driving and more congestion.”

The proposal feeds wasteful spending.  “The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is squandering most of the $3 billion in borrowed funds authorized by the General Assembly in 2011 and we can expect more of the same.” Hard-to-justify projects include the Charlottesville Bypass, the Coalfields Expressway and the Route 460 Connector. Another $1.25 billion in funds raised by the tax restructuring will be lavished upon a Northern Virginia Outer Beltway.

The proposal offers no statewide funding for local road needs.  “VDOT has zeroed out funding for local roads over the past few years. Instead, the bill will make Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads increase sales taxes and wholesale gas taxes to pay for local roads. This is a major step toward devolution and passing on the cost of local roads to Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.”

The compromise pushes all new transit funding — the 0.3 cent addition to the sales tax — into the General Fund, forcing it to compete with schools, health care and other public services.  “Dulles Rail should long ago have been funded through the Transportation Trust Fund. It should not be a bargaining chip to get Northern Virginians to agree to taking General Fund revenues.”

Bacon’s bottom line: I agree with most of this critique — the General Assembly compromise enables a dysfunctional Business As Usual. I do take exception with one point, however. I believe that all modes of transportation should stand on their own two feet, so to speak. I don’t believe in subsidizing rail or mass transit any more than I believe in subsidizing roads. We need to create a level playing field — put each mode on a user-fee basis — and let the most economical mode win.

Would it then be impossible to finance new rail projects? Not necessarily. We could make rail more viable if we could figure out how to tap a portion of the real estate value created by rail projects to help finance the construction. That’s where we need to concentrate our energy, not how to stick non-users with the bill.

Photo courtesy of Bacon’s Rebellion

Read the original article here >>

 

New bus rapid transit proposal centers around Route 355

Posted on by Ted Van Houten

Route 355 is the only road in Montgomery County that could support a two-way bus lane, county planners said Thursday as they presented a scaled-back bus rapid system to the county’s Planning Board.

Planners are pitching a 78-mile system that would include eight corridors in the center and downcounty regions. Some would include new lanes in the current medians, one of which is a two-lane system and others that call for a one-lane track, and mixing the buses in with existing traffic.

The new version is about half of the 160-mile system proposed by a task force appointed by County Executive Ike Leggett. A report from the New York-based Institution for Transportation and Development Policy suggested that system would not have enough riders.

The buses in the new system would run down Route 355, Colesville Road/Route 29, Georgia Avenue, New Hampshire Avenue, Randolph Road, Veirs Mill Road, University Boulevard and the proposed North Bethesda Transitway between Old Georgetown Road and Interstate 270.

But Route 355 is the only road that could hold two lanes down the median and provide enough bus riders to make the new construction worth it.

Master Planner Larry Cole pitched building the bus system on Route 355/Rockville Pike and U.S. 29/Colesville Road first because these are the roads predicted to have the most riders and they can stand alone without other corridors feeding into them.

Some commissioners questioned why some corridors were chosen over others and what the methodology was behind determining ridership and congestion. There was also discussion of what was more beneficial for drivers and potential BRT riders: dedicated curb lanes or bus lanes in medians?

Planning commissioner Norman Dreyfuss asked whether Cole had considered creating new median lanes for cars instead of the buses to alleviate congestion on certain corridors and keep buses on the curb for pedestrian safety.

Cole said county staff was still working on the specifics of the system.

Area transportation advocates backed the plan, saying county planners are being realistic about the service they can provide the county.

“The staff’s analysis is both rigorous and practical,” said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “And results in a network that can be effectively implemented.”

A public hearing is scheduled for March 18.

Photo courtesy of Washington Examiner

Read the original article here >>

Planners Say Rockville Pike Could Handle Major Bus Rapid Transit System

Posted on by Ted Van Houten

Montgomery County planners think Rockville Pike is the county’s best candidate for a “true” Bus Rapid Transit route, meaning the traffic-clogged artery could support a two-lane median busway similar to major systems that serve millions of riders in other countries.

The finding came today in a briefing from planners in front of the Montgomery County Planning Board and a little more than a week after it was revealed that an outside consultant found a potential 150-mile BRT system in Montgomery County would not have enough riders.

Today, planners presented a modified 87-mile BRT system they said would attract more riders than the outside report from the New York-based Institution for Transportation and Development Policy suggested.

“ITDP’s report’s focus is on which corridors are best suited to high-quality “true” BRT with frequent all day service. The report finds that MD355 is the best candidate for this treatment, but expresses a concern that if future BRT ridership is only double the existing bus ridership, it would be very low compared to other BRT operations nationwide,” reads the Planning Staff’s memo. “ITDP did not do any ridership forecasting however, whereas our transportation modeling work has shown that the forecast 2040 ridership on MD355 is far higher and we are confident that we should begin planning for a two-lane median busway for most of this corridor.”

The Planning Staff briefing also found that the proposed North Bethesda Transitway BRT route (with a previously estimated daily ridership of 8,000 to 10,000 riders) was a corridor that could stand alone, without the benefit of a county-wide network.

The Coalition for Smarter Growth, a D.C.-based nonprofit lobbying for smart growth initiatives and transit funding, had supportive words for the latest proposal.

“The planning staff’s network is smaller than the full Transit Task Force proposal but also much larger than the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) proposal.  The staff’s analysis is both rigorous and practical, and results in a network that can be effectively implemented,” Coalition for Smarter Growth Stewart Schwartz said in a statement.

Daily ridership projections by 2040 presented at a Coalition for Smarter Growth meeting last week show between 44,000 and 49,000 riders for a southbound MD 355 system and between 22,000 and 34,000 riders for a northbound MD 355 system. The projections for the North Bethesda Transitway range from 4,000 daily riders to 10,000.

Photo by Juanman 3 via Wikipedia; route map via Montgomery County Planning Department

Read the original article here >>

Advocates Form Coalition To Push For Purple Line Funds

Posted on by Ted Van Houten

A new coalition is advocating for dollars for state transportation projects, including the planned 16-mile Purple Line light rail that would connect Bethesda with New Carrollton, The Washington Post reports.

Get Maryland Moving, a coalition of groups, including the Montgomery County and Bethesda-Chevy Chase chambers of commerce, Purple Line Now, Action Committee for Transit, and the League of Women Voters of Maryland, is pushing for state legislators to make new revenue for transportation projects a top priority this legislative session, according to the group’s website.

Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach has proposed a 3-cent gas tax that would raise about $300 million for transportation projects, Patch reported.

But without a tax increase to fund the Purple Line, the project—along with Baltimore’s Red Line and the Corridor Cities Transitway through the Interstate 270 corridor—could be put on hold, Maryland transportation officials have said. Montgomery County officials and transportation advocates have argued that deferring the funds in the state’s transportation funding plan could stall the projects and make them less competitive for federal dollars.

Get Maryland Moving is encouraging Maryland residents to contact their legislators and sign a petition supporting transportation funding. The petition reads:

“No funding solution this year means that critical capital projects such as the Purple Line, Red Line, and MARC upgrades may be delayed for years or decades. We call on our leaders to take a different path: to invest in our future by securing funding for critical transit projects, road maintenance, and other investments to support smart, sustainable growth for Maryland.”

Photo courtesy of MTA

Read the original article here >>

Group Introduces New Coalition To Push Transit Funding

Posted on by Ted Van Houten

A new collection of transit advocates yesterday began a push to get Annapolis lawmakers focused on transportation funding and a member of the group fueling the effort yesterday night asked for support from a Bethesda Advisory Board.

Kelly Blynn, of the D.C.-based nonprofit Coalition for Smarter Growth, told members of the Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board that without transit projects such as the Purple Line light rail in Bethesda or a Bus Rapid Transit system along Rockville Pike, Montgomery County could not handle the over 200,000 more people coming to the county by 2030.

The Coalition for Smarter Growth spearheaded the “Get Maryland Moving” campaign, which it introduced on Tuesday.

“Maryland’s economic competitiveness is at risk if the state fails to invest adequately in maintenance, local roads and modern transit systems,” Coalition for Smarter Growth executive director Stewart Schwartz said in a statement. “These transit investments are essential for providing relief from peak hour congestion, for supporting economic development, and for reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.”

Blynn came looking for allies at the Advisory Board meeting on Tuesday and described the group’s three-legged approach toward improving local traffic issues: investment in the projected $2.4 billion Purple Line, Bus Rapid Transit (still far from its final design) and Metro system improvements.

Supporters of the “Get Maryland Moving” campaign include the Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce, Action Committee for Transit and and Purple Line Now.

With no state funding in sight, Purple Line design work by the Maryland Transit Administration could be stopped, which local lawmakers say would derail the process. The 16-mile light rail from New Carrollton to Bethesda, with stops in College Park, Silver Spring and Chevy Chase, among others, would bring 15,000 riders a day to the Bethesda station, according to MTA projections.

County leaders say this is the year to get a gas tax hike in the General Assembly that could cover the state’s share of the cost. They are pessimistic that leaders would agree to a gas tax hike in 2014, an election year. So far, Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) hasn’t made achieving transportation funding a priority, to the chagrin of Montgomery leaders such as Councilman Roger Berliner (D-Bethesda-Potomac).

The “Get Maryland Moving” campaign includes a petition to spur action from O’Malley and others on the issue.

Photo courtesy of Get Maryland Moving

Read the original article here >>

NCRTPB votes to consider new access roads for Dulles airport

Posted on by Ted Van Houten

The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board voted unanimously Wednesday to approve studying multiple proposals for new access roads on the west side of Dulles International Airport.


Dulles International Airport. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Joe Ravi CC-BY-SA-30

As a critical hub for trade and commerce, Dulles needs more access roads for cargo trucks, planners say.

Advocates argue that more access roads could mean more cargo trucks, which could mean more trade in an international economy.

“If we don’t improve access to it and the other airports, we’re going to find our economic growth declining,” says Leo Schefer, Washington Airports Task Force president.

But not everyone is in agreement. Opponents point to the price tag, potentially hundreds of millions of dollars.

“At a time when we’re starved for transportation dollars, why are we diverting so much money to these roads on the backside of the airport instead of fixing 66, finishing paying for Dulles rail, revitalizing Route 1 in Fairfax, just dozens and dozens of projects that have not been funded,” says Stewart Schwartz, Coalition for Smarter Growth executive director.

In the hundreds of public comments, residents who oppose the proposed access roads call this a foot in the door toward the creation of what they call an “outer beltway.”

But board chair and Loudoun County Supervisor Scott York says that is not the plan.

“I hope all would understand that this is about supporting the growth of the international airport,” York says.

“The real goal is additional road investment on the backside of the airport to open up the rural areas of Loudoun County and Prince William County to more development,” Schwartz says. “Which is gonna mean more traffic upstream as well.”

Today’s vote means transportation planners will study several alternatives, including the two new access roads or possibly doing nothing at all.

VDOT will then select a preferred alternative before the board votes in July on its long-range transportation plan.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Joe Ravi CC-BY-SA-30

Read the original article here >>

New group forms to push for Maryland transportation funding

Posted on by admin

A new group has formed in Maryland to urge legislators to find new revenue options to fund transportation projects.

The group — Get Maryland Moving — is comprised of various advocacy organizations, including Purple Line Now and the Red Line Now PAC in Baltimore, Coalition for Smarter Growth, and the Maryland League of Women Voters and the Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce, amongst others.

The group is asking Gov. Martin O’Malley and the Maryland General Assembly to make transportation funding a priority in this legislative session.

O’Malley used part of his annual State of the State speech last month to talk about Maryland’s “worst traffic congestion in the country” and the need for money for the near-bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund but offered no details. An O’Malley spokeswoman said he is working with the legislature to work out a plan.

Maryland’s Transportation Trust Fund pays for road and bridge maintenance, as well as other projects such as light rail, including the proposed Purple and Red lines. The fund has enough money to pay only for current maintenance and is projected to run out of cash by 2018.

Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

Read the original story here >>

Chevy Chase Lake, Police Update, Smart Growth On Agenda Tuesday

Posted on by Ted Van Houten

The Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board will discuss the controversial Chevy Chase Lake Sector Plan, get a crime update from MCP Bethesda District commander Capt. Dave Falcinelli and a presentation from the Coalition for Smarter Growth when it meets Tuesday night.

The advisory board is made up of residents from Bethesda, Chevy Chase, North Bethesda, Potomac, Rockville and other areas. The Board issues advisory letters to county policymakers on a variety of issues including land use, which could make its discussion of Chevy Chase Lake particularly interesting.

A coalition of residents, many in a group known as the Connecticut Avenue Corridor Committee, oppose some of the density and height recommendations made by the Montgomery County Planning Board for redevelopment of strip shopping centers in Chevy Chase Lake. Many against the Planning Board recommendations made their case to Councilman Roger Berliner (D-Bethesda-Potomac) at a town hall meeting last month.

Berliner and the rest of the Council will hear from all parties at a public hearing set for 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5, then decide how the final Sector Plan should look. The Advisory Board’s discussion might lead to another opinion on the issue.

Falcinelli will also present, as well as representatives from the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a D.C.-based nonprofit joining the push for transportation funding to help build transit projects such as the Purple Line light rail.

The Advisory Board meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center (4805 Edgemoor Lane) and is open to all.

Roger Berliner: Saving Purple Line requires governor’s involvement

Posted on by admin

Without new money the Purple Line and the Corridor Cities Transitway may be put on hold, and one Montgomery County councilmember believes the governor needs to take a more active role so that doesn’t happen.

“I don’t think the governor has gotten engaged as much as he needs to,” said Councilmember Roger Berliner at an event with the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

“It pains to read the paper that in Virginia they’re going to pass a gas tax. They’re closer to it than we are, with Gov. McDonnell pushing it, cutting deals to make it happen. I don’t see it in Maryland,” Berliner said.

The Maryland Department of Transportation recently told the Montgomery County Council that the transportation projects would be put on hold.

Montgomery County Chair Nancy Navarro and Councilman Berliner sent them a letter calling the idea “unacceptable.”

“Nothing will happen right away in the new fiscal year on July 1,” Acting Deputy Secretary of Transportation Leif Dormsjo told WTOP.

“We would gradually wind down the project over the months. The consultants would be let go and the money would be reallocated to other purposes.”

Dormsjo said the shutdown date would likely be late summer, with the money for both projects redirected for MARC trains and MTA buses.

“I don’t understand the transportation department’s position. They’ve invested so much in this program. They need to work with the legislature and find the money,” says Berliner.

Dormsjo says the transportation department is working with lawmakers and remains optimistic that a deal will be reached.

“It has been extremely frustrating. Every time we’re close to construction, we run into a funding issue,” says Barbara Sanders of Silver Spring, who is active in the push to build the Purple Line.

The 16-mile light rail line from Bethesda to New Carrollton would cost about $2.15 billion and is slated to open in 2020, although a delay could push back the date several years.

“We need this job centers in Bethesda, Silver Spring to New Carrollton interconnected. It’s critical to the revitalization of these communities. It’s critical for people to avoid this crushing Beltway traffic,” said Stewart Schwartz, executive director at the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

“The problem will only get worse if we don’t give them options like the Purple Line,” Schwartz said.

“Current ridership data suggests that there very few riders today that are making the New Carrollton-to-Bethesda trip. The Purple Line would actually increase demand on the existing Metro system and at our core stations. We are currently out of capacity in our core stations,” says Shyam Kannan, director of planning for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the agency that runs the subway.

Kannan says the Purple Line would only increase the need for Momentum, an effort from the agency to increase rail and bus capacity to deal with rising population and demand.

“I want construction to start 2015, as planned. I don’t want another five-year delay. It would be awful,” says Ben Ross with the Action Committee for Transit of Montgomery County.

Delegate Mike Smigiel, a Republican from the Eastern Shore, opposes raising the gas tax and replenishing the Transportation Trust Fund because he thinks it’ll drive Maryland residents to Virginia and Delaware to fill up their tanks.

Smigiel and other critics also are unwilling to accept tax increases on all Marylanders to help pay for projects that only benefit Baltimore and Montgomery County.

Smigiel points to the InterCounty Connector, partially financed with tax dollars, as an example of what he calls a “boondoggle.”

“This transportation funding issue isn’t just about transit like the Purple Line. This is also about money to deal with a huge backlog of road projects. The rural areas have roads with potholes, roads that need paving and aging bridges,” said Schwartz.

“There are people who don’t like Montgomery County because of our role in the state, but the reality is that we provide 30 percent of the tax revenues for the state. We are the economic engine for the state of Maryland. If you plug the engine, it’s not good for Western Maryland, Baltimore or Southern Maryland,” Berliner said.

The Department of Transportation tells WTOP that it’s drafting a letter in response to the Montgomery County Council that will be sent in the next few weeks.

Read the original article on WTOP.

Photo courtesy of Ari Ashe.