“Stephen Courtien, president of Baltimore-D.C. Building Trades, and Howard Levine, owner of Ramar Moving Systems, are advisory board members of Traffic Relief NOW.
There was a brief moment in the coronavirus pandemic when traffic basically disappeared in the region. Almost overnight, the congestion that has plagued our state for decades vanished. Some thought this might be part of a “new normal” that could last forever. A handful of politicians declared victory, claiming additional lanes for commuters were no longer needed. They even said the real answer was encouraging permanent teleworking for some unnamed group of Marylanders.
Obviously, we now know the truth. Traffic has surpassed its pre-2019 levels, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Again, Marylanders who have no other choice but to travel on Interstate 495 or Interstate 270 are back to wasting countless hours of their lives in some of the worst traffic in the nation.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that there is a solution.
Four years ago, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced his plan to widen the Capital Beltway and I-270, much like our neighbors in Virginia have already accomplished. That project, officially known as the New American Legion Bridge I-270 Traffic Relief Plan, relies solely on private funding to create two high-occupancy toll lanes in each direction of the Capital Beltway and I-270. These lanes will relieve congestion, improve transit services, incentivize carpooling, and allow commuters to save time and money.
After years of consistent progress, the project is on the 1-yard line, and all we have to do is push it into the end zone.
For decades, Marylanders have heard their elected representatives pay endless lip service to traffic congestion. They talk about solutions and even show empathy in public, but when the rubber meets the road, they have nothing but platitudes to offer. Platitudes might temporarily solve political problems, but they never solve real-world problems.
Public opinion polls have repeatedly confirmed what common sense dictates: Most Marylanders support adding capacity to these highways and they support the governor’s plan to do so.
Unfortunately, the people who oppose adding additional lanes have taken to making wild and nonsensical claims about the project — often magnified by the media.
They claim it won’t reduce traffic congestion. This is false. The Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement found that this project will reduce delays by 18 percent and 32 percent in the a.m. and p.m. peak periods, respectively. They claim the project has nothing to offer for transit solutions. This is false. The project provides for hundreds of millions in transit investment. They claim that trip prices on the new lanes could be up to $50. This is false. The average trip price will be $3 to $5 or less. They claim all the lanes will be tolled. This is false. Only the new Express Lanes will be tolled. The existing lanes will remain free.
And of course, they love to claim these new lanes will be for the wealthy only, referring to them as “Lexus lanes” (as if alliteration makes a claim true). This is also false. Research showed that most of the users are not affluent.
Most people don’t know that the region was designed to have not one but three concentric roads around D.C. That never happened, and we have all been paying the price for this inaction ever since.
This level of traffic congestion doesn’t just waste people’s time; it also costs the state more than $1 billion in economic activity, hampers job creation and causes businesses to look elsewhere when relocating. Maryland is known for many great things, but increasingly it is gaining a reputation as a wealthy state that can’t get out of its own way when pursuing the big, meaningful projects that really make a difference in the lives of our residents.
The facts are simple. Traffic is back and will only get worse unless substantial corrective action is taken in the very near future. We can wish for things to be different. We talk about supernatural policies that will remove people from their cars and make mass transit not only profitable but also desirable for most Marylanders.
Or we can deal with reality. If we are serious about improving the lives of Marylanders, if we are serious about keeping up with Virginia and other regional powers, then we need to expand our highways and, in the process, expand what is possible for the state that we all love.”