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Under intense pressure from the Hogan administration, an influential regional transportation board is poised to revive a plan to widen portions of Interstate 270 and the Capital Beltway in Montgomery County.
Last month the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board deleted the project from a federal air quality analysis in a surprise vote, a聽聽for one of Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr.鈥檚 top priorities.
The amendment was offered by Montgomery County Executive Marc B. Elrich (D), a leading critic of the plan to add 鈥渆xpress toll lanes鈥� to the two roads 鈥� and the vote appeared to catch the Maryland Department of Transportation flat-footed.
Since then, Hogan (R) and transportation officials in Maryland and Virginia have mounted an aggressive campaign to engineer a revote.
MDOT has distributed multiple lists of road and transit improvements that the agency maintains will have to be cut if the TPB fails to reverse itself, prompting snorts of derision from project critics.
In addition, proponents of the $3 billion 鈥減ublic-private partnership,鈥� which also includes the reconstruction and widening of the American Legion Bridge, have moved to fill vacant positions on the panel.
And Hogan has used his political action committee to publicly accuse project critics of engaging in 鈥減artisan鈥� politics and appeasing 鈥減ro-traffic activists.鈥�
The campaign appears to be paying off.
The TPB meets on Wednesday, and the proposal to restore the Hogan project to the capital region鈥檚 Air Quality Conformity Analysis is on the agenda.
There will be at least three new faces when the panel meets: Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner (D),聽聽(D), an outspoken project critic who was removed shortly after the June 16 vote; state Sen. Nancy J. King (D-Montgomery), who backs Hogan鈥檚 push to widen the two highways; and Del. David Reid (D-Loudoun). King and Reid both fill vacancies.
The transportation board is made up of more than two dozen jurisdictions from the national capital region and it uses a 鈥渨eighted鈥� voting system, so even insiders are unclear whether Hogan and his allies in Virginia state government and the business community will prevail.
In interviews on Monday, several critics of the project were harshly critical of the threats MDOT has issued.
They said the agency鈥檚 list of five projects that would be cut from the budget 鈥� to make up for the loss of private financing for the I-495/I-270 plan 鈥� are not currently funded in the state鈥檚 Consolidated Transportation Plan, Maryland鈥檚 six-year rolling budget for capital spending.
鈥淚f you look at Hogan鈥檚 budget 鈥� and prior budgets 鈥� he鈥檚 not funding them [already],鈥� said Del. Marc A. Korman (D-Montgomery). 鈥淭here are five projects listed and every one of them, if you look at the CTP, is zero dollars in the current year and zero dollars in the subsequent five years.鈥�
A Hogan spokesman declined to comment.
On Monday, the State Highway Administration released data showing that traffic in some parts of the state 鈥� including at the American Legion Bridge 鈥� is slightly above 2019 levels.
鈥淗oliday travel during the Fourth of July Weekend exceeding 2019 levels is an important milestone signaling our state鈥檚 strong recovery from the pandemic,鈥� Hogan said in a statement.
鈥淭raffic volumes are exceeding pre-pandemic levels across the state, including at the American Legion Bridge, making the need for our Traffic Relief Plan more urgent than ever.鈥�
Elrich dismissed the list of projects purported to be on the chopping block, calling it 鈥渁 pretty empty threat.鈥�
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 solve anything. There鈥檚 no money saved here that鈥檚 going to be diverted to the bridge,鈥� the executive said.
鈥淭he governor鈥檚 whole campaign has been to spew out venom and half-truths 鈥� actually not truths at all 鈥� and hope that people buy it because it鈥檚 coming from him,鈥� he added. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no validity in this.鈥�
The governor鈥檚 political action committee, Change Maryland, ran Facebook ads that accuse Elrich, Korman and Montgomery County Council President Tom Hucker (D) of taking steps that would keep commuters 鈥渟tuck in soul-crushing traffic.鈥�
鈥淢ontgomery County politicians Marc Elrich, Marc Korman, and Tom Hucker aren鈥檛 just blocking a new American Legion Bridge and reduced traffic congestion on I-270 and I-495,鈥� one ad says. 鈥淯nder Marc Elrich鈥檚 plan, nearly every single transportation project in the National Capital Region will be killed, including 5 vital traffic solutions right here in Montgomery County.鈥�
A version of the ad that ran in Prince George鈥檚 claimed that the TPB vote could kill six 鈥渢raffic solutions鈥� along with the build-out of the Beltway interchange at the Greenbelt Metro station, a project that is not funded in the state鈥檚 latest budget.
鈥淒on鈥檛 let Montgomery County politicians hold Prince George鈥檚 residents 鈥� who are stuck in soul-crushing traffic 鈥� hostage to appease a small group of pro-traffic activists,鈥� the text read.
The Sierra Club has sent a cease-and-desist order to Change Maryland, accusing the PAC of 鈥渋nappropriate and misleading use of Sierra Club鈥檚 name.鈥� The environmental organization also wants Facebook to remove the ads on the grounds that they represent 鈥渕isinformation鈥� and 鈥渇alse news.鈥�
Although a top aide to Prince George鈥檚 County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) 聽in a June 24 letter to the TPB, it could not be learned on Monday how she intends to vote on Wednesday.
Korman called the letter, from Transportation Director Terry Bellamy, 鈥渁 little distressing, because it showed maybe a lack of understanding about what the governor is threatening.鈥�
鈥淚 hope that people who are 鈥榝lipping鈥� are doing it because of the right reasons and not because they鈥檙e buying into the false narrative,鈥� he said. 鈥淧eople should be voting based on what they view as the merits of the project and not a completely false narrative that is being put out there.鈥�
Kopp bid for study funds is denied
Under Maryland鈥檚 public-private partnership (P3) law, the state鈥檚 fiscal leaders 鈥� the comptroller, treasurer and select members of the General Assembly 鈥� have 30 days to review P3 agreements after they are signed.
In a July 9 letter to General Assembly leaders, Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp (D) said her staff did not have the bandwidth to conduct a thorough review of MDOT鈥檚 $54 million 鈥減redevelopment鈥� contract for the I-270/495 project with Accelerate Maryland Partners, a consortium led by the Australian firms Transurban and Macquarie Capital.
Kopp requested $100,000 from the state Department of Budget and Management to contract with outside experts for the review, but her request was denied.
The analysis Kopp鈥檚 team did conduct concluded that while 鈥渢here are advantages鈥� to MDOT鈥檚 鈥減rogressive [P3] delivery model, the approach could make it challenging to keep costs competitive鈥� in later stages of the project.
鈥淸Future agreements] would include the actual construction and operation of the facilities comprising the Project, which will make their cost, complexity, and risk far greater than anything included鈥� in the predevelopment agreement, she wrote.
鈥淗owever, information on those costs, complexities, and risks will not be available until [this] Agreement is already approved, the predevelopment work is completed,鈥� and subsequent agreements are under consideration, she wrote.
Kopp also said it鈥檚 unclear whether Hogan鈥檚 preferred financing method 鈥� a P3 鈥� is truly a better deal for taxpayers in the first phases of the project than traditional financing, because the analysis has not been done.
鈥淲ithout an analysis directly comparing the costs and risks associated with P3 delivery to a comparable project using public sector delivery, there is no way for the State to make an informed choice between the two alternatives,鈥� she concluded.
鈥淢DOT and [the concessionaire] intend to perform their own separate value for money analyses as part of the predevelopment phase, but only after [this] Agreement would have already been approved,鈥� the treasurer added.
Michael Ricci, the governor鈥檚 spokesman, defended the decision to deny the treasurer鈥檚 funding request.
鈥淚t is DBM鈥檚 position that the Treasurer鈥檚 Office, as guardians of the state鈥檚 resources, should be able to find the $100,000 within its $6.7 million budget,鈥� he wrote in an email, noting that the treasurer鈥檚 office didn鈥檛 spend $500,000 of its budget in the 2020 fiscal year.
Ben Ross, the head of the Maryland Transit Opportunities Coalition and a leading opponent of Hogan鈥檚 project, called the Department of Budget and Management decision 鈥渦tterly outrageous.鈥�
鈥淭hey say they want to run the state like a business,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat business would enter a $6 billion bond-financed deal without their bond lawyer looking at it?鈥�
