On Friday June 17, the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released with a 30-day availability period the I-495 & I-270 Managed Lanes Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and appendices, totaling 26,500 pages in 74 separate files.1
Category: Stopping Sprawl & Highway Projects
CSG Comments to VDOT/VDRPT on 495 Southside Express Lanes NEPA Study
The Coalition for Smarter Growth appreciates the efforts of the Virginia Department of Transportation
(VDOT) and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (VDRPT) to improve mobility
within the I-495 corridor between Springfield and Maryland. However, to truly address the needs of the
study area communities on either side of the Woodrow Wilson bridge and the metropolitan region,
VDOT will need to take a broader and more holistic approach consistent with the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
RELEASE: CSG and Sierra Club Hail Historic Vote at the DC region’s Transportation Planning Board to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
TPB members, led by Maryland jurisdictions and DC, adopted a resolution to slash climate pollution from cars and trucks by 50% by 2030 and identified strategies to pursue towards that goal.
CSG Comments: May 2022 Visualize 2045
Our primary comments are contained in the joint letter with over 30 other organizations from
across TPB’s region.
LETTER: May 2022 Visualize 2045 Sign-On
Yet the TPB board members made no substantive changes, and the
Background & Analysis on Visualize 2045 (April 2022)
Despite a new climate action plan by TPB’s parent agency the Council of Governments, this Visualize 2045 makes no real changes and fails to reduce emissions any more than the last one.
Comments re: NVTAuthority Annual Organizational Meeting
I’ll begin with expressing deep appreciation for your public service and the service of all staff. I join others in praising your Gateway dashboard. We also appreciate the support some jurisdictions have given to dedicated bike/ped and transit investments.
TESTIMONY re: TPB Climate and Transportation Study Findings
The findings from your climate and transportation study are clear: The region can achieve necessary levels of greenhouse gas reductions under its adopted 2030 climate plan, We cannot depend solely on electric vehicle adoption and a cleaner grid, the region must reduce per capita vehicle miles traveled by 15 to 20% by 2030.
Comments on the I-495 and I-270 Managed Lanes Study Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement
The Coalition for Smarter Growth submits the following comments in response to the Notice of Availability of the I– 495 & I–270 Managed Lanes Study Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) and Updated Draft Section 4(f) Evaluation. We have also signed onto and endorse the comments submitted by the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club and separate comments by the Maryland Transit Opportunities Coalition.
CSG Testimony: TPB Vote on Capital Beltway/I-270 & Long-Range Transportation Plan
July 20, 2021
Hon. Charles Allen
Chair, National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board
Re: TPB Vote on Capital Beltway/I-270 and the Long-Range Transportation Plan
Chair Allen and members of the TPB:
I will keep our comments short:
- Governor Hogan and MDOT have:
- Completely failed to objectively study alternatives to the toll lanes
- Put the P3 negotiations and contracts ahead of completion of the EIS, and biased the entire process for private toll lanes.
- Run a scorched-earth political campaign which demonstrates their bias.
- The toll lane deals for 495Next in Virginia and for Maryland not only lack the commitment to transit funding we need, the non-compete provisions appear to prevent future Metrorail at the American Legion Bridge and other transit investments.
- Climate change is an existential threat. Contrary to MDOT arguments, highway expansion increases driving and CO2 emissions. It is astounding to see massive highway expansion proposed while the Arctic and Antarctic melts, the West burns, Europe floods, and shellfish cooks on the beaches of Canada.
- The toll lanes would reinforce the East-West economic divide in our region condemning Prince George’s commuters to either paying very high tolls or sitting in the general-purpose lane traffic that the toll road companies depend on to generate their profits.
- A far better alternative is Maryland investment in transit-oriented development on the east side of the region, which would increase jobs, shorten commutes, even out the flows on the Beltway and Metrorail, and help address the E-W economic and racial divide.
Therefore, we urge you to stand by your vote to remove the toll lanes from the TPB’s long range plan and honestly to take the same step for the 495Next project – in order to force objective consideration of alternatives, the climate impacts, and the development of the most sustainable and effective alternative with the least impact on parks and communities.
We are running out of time on the climate and are failing to do what needs to be done to address the E-W economic and racial divide. We need your leadership.
Thank you,
Stewart Schwartz
Executive Director