Rascovar: Hogan, king of the road(s)

Gov. Larry Hogan never met a highway project he didn’t like. He’s a 1950s type of politician – solve all the state’s transportation gridlock and congestion by paving the countryside with lanes of new concrete.

He’s got a $9 billion plan that is a lollapalooza: Let construction giants build and pay for toll lanes on the Capital Beltway and the busy I-270 corridor from the beltway to Frederick – 70 miles of exclusive Lexus lanes – and let those companies reap the toll rewards so they can recoup a staggering $7.6 billion investment (the actual cost is likely to be substantially higher).

Then Hogan says he’ll take the state’s part of the profits and turn the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, now owned by the U.S. Park Service, into curb-to-curb concrete with nary a tree or woodlands in between.

While conversation over this stunning proposal has barely started – Hogan consulted very few people it seems – there are a slew of points that deserve consideration before his back-to-the-future initiative gets too far off the ground:

The environmental damage, especially along the B-W Parkway, could be substantial.

How can the Park Service, even under a run-amuck Trump administration, turn the parkway’s 30 miles of mature woodlands over to a state eager to destroy those trees and vast stretches of scenic greenery? Is such a move even legally permissible?

Eight lanes of concrete – four new toll lanes (plus wide shoulders) and four toll-free lanes – would convert the parkway into a high-speed, tension-filled raceway.

For homeowners and neighborhoods abutting or close to the three roadways, Hogan’s plan is a calamity.

When a two-lane expansion of the B-W Parkway was proposed in 2011, Greenbelt leaders loudly objected, fearing the intrusion of the busy highway directly into the town. Imagine what a four-lane toll expansion will do to Greenbelt and other communities along the route.

The situation is far worse along high-density sections of I-270 and the Capital Beltway. Gigantic lawsuits and protests await Hogan when he tries to seize all that private property from businesses and homeowners – and then turn the land over to a consortium that would profit from those government land-grabs.

At the end of this project, Hogan may have done little to relieve highway congestion.

Every expansion of I-495 and I-695 (the Baltimore Beltway) has meant more cars on those roads and a quick return to the same level of congestion and added pollution. Los Angles has experienced the same thing with the famed I-405, where a $1.4 billion expansion didn’t help ease congestion at all.

The notion that Maryland taxpayers won’t be on the hook for a lot of the expense of these mega-projects isn’t realistic.

Hogan’s no-cost-to-taxpayers assertion may sound good to voters, but there’s virtually no way he can make it happen. These are ultra-expensive projects. For starters, seizing private properties through eminent domain can’t be privatized and will be extraordinarily expensive in the high-priced Washington suburbs.

Hogan also says the state’s share of profits from the I-495 and I-270 toll lanes will pay for the four toll lanes on the B-W Parkway. That doesn’t compute give the woeful record of the state’s last two toll projects – the InterCounty Connector and the I-95 Express Toll Lanes from Baltimore to White Marsh. Neither has come near the revenue numbers anticipated prior to construction.

Maryland’s toll authority already is in a heap of long-term financial trouble that would be compounded by these mega-projects.

The Department of Legislative Services says that between now and 2022, Maryland’s tolling facilities will take in $267 million less than projected but operating expenses will be $588 million higher than anticipated. This will force $1.7 billion worth of cuts to future projects and reduce the toll authority’s ability to float bonds by $3.7 billion.

Adding Hogan’s toll-road projects, even with a public-private contract, will scare the heck out of bond-rating agencies, which know full-well the state isn’t getting a free ride on construction projects of this size.

In good times, more cars and trucks use highways and toll roads. But in bad times, the reverse is true. Experts almost universally note the nation is ripe for an economic downturn. That means a big drop in gas tax and toll receipts for Maryland’s transportation agencies.

Rising fuel-mileage standards are hurting Maryland’s gas-tax receipts, too. So is the growth of electric vehicles on the road.

Meanwhile, the Maryland Transportation Authority’s debt service is soaring – a nearly eight-fold increase between 2007 and today with no decline in sight over the next 25 years.

The authority “will need to make long-term changes in order to remain financially stable,” DLS reported early this year. Hogan’s mega-projects ignore that suggestion and add to the state’s highway obligations.

Hogan’s plan gives zero attention to a balanced transit solution in Central Maryland, instead putting all the state’s transportation eggs in a highway basket. That’s not the direction Virginia or other Eastern states with similar congestion woes are heading.

Such a vast expansion of I-295, I-495 and I-270 will create massive new gridlock at exit and access points.

How in the world could Russell Street in Baltimore handle an additional two lanes of rush-hour traffic? Ditto as the BW Parkway flows into New York Avenue in D.C. It would be a nightmare. Arterial roads and cut-through streets in adjacent neighborhoods along these three interstate highways would be clogged. The law of unintended consequences could kick in.

Passing environmental tests posed by federal and state laws and regulations could delay construction for many years, especially on the B-W Parkway.

Rest assured, legal challenges to every aspect of Hogan’s plan will be posed by environmental groups, well-to-do neighborhood associations along these routes and local governments.

Indeed, Hogan may be out of office by the time the first ground-breaking ceremony takes place – which may be part of his strategy.

What happened to helping Joe Six-Pack and the “forgotten Americans” who can’t afford E-ZPass transponders and frequent Lexus lanes?

There’s nothing in Hogan’s transportation vision that helps people at the lower end of the economy. No expansion of commuter buses, no shuttles connecting workers to spread-out job sites, no future mass transit such as a desperately needed east-west line through Baltimore.

Hogan’s highway proposal creates a windfall for the well-to-do and transportation businesses.

Expect hefty campaign contributions from the construction and highway industries, from trucking concerns and from companies along these routes that figure to benefit from additional high-speed, interstate concrete lanes.

For voters, Hogan’s plan sounds great and makes an ideal campaign pitch. The devil is in the details, though, which Hogan won’t mention to voters.

How Democrats react to Hogan’s mega-plan will be fascinating to watch. Commuters want highway relief. But will they like what comes with the relief Hogan is offering?

Putting specifics before voters won’t be easy because the topic is complex. Voters like simple solutions and Hogan is very good at giving simple answers to exceedingly complicated problems.

How will the two other members of the Board of Public Works vote on Hogan’s plan?

They hold the key. Without BPW approval, Hogan’s super-highway plans are dead.

Comptroller Peter Franchot and Treasurer Nancy Kopp will have to dissect the extensive financial ramifications of Hogan’s proposal, the environmental impact, the legal liability such a huge seizure of private property might entail and the impact this would have on the lives of thousands of residents and businesses along those interstate routes.

About the only thing that seems assured is this: Hogan’s sweepingly ambitious highway-building plan is a long way from getting built.

There is so much wrong with this article, I hardly know where to start.

1. Then Hogan says he’ll take the state’s part of the profits and turn the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, now owned by the U.S. Park Service, into curb-to-curb concrete with nary a tree or woodlands in between…How can the Park Service, even under a run-amuck Trump administration, turn the parkway’s 30 miles of mature woodlands over to a state eager to destroy those trees and vast stretches of scenic greenery? Is such a move even legally permissible?

Inside the beltway, the BW parkway is a fraud as far as being a "park" -- there is a very narrow band of trees that have apartment buildings backed up on them. Outside the beltway, there is little more -- the NASA Greenbelt facility is parkland now? the experimental farms? There may be a total of 5 miles of the entire road that is truly going through parkland. MAY be.

2. Hogan’s plan gives zero attention to a balanced transit solution in Central Maryland, instead putting all the state’s transportation eggs in a highway basket. That’s not the direction Virginia or other Eastern states with similar congestion woes are heading.

Hello. The PURPLE LINE anybody? I'm sure this idiot objects to the environmental damage caused by the PURPLE LINE (for those who don't live here, the Purple Line is a light rail project that will connect the New Carrolton metro station on the east side of the DC metro and the Bethesda station -- on the Western part -- as far as Maryland goes).

3. Such a vast expansion of I-295, I-495 and I-270 will create massive new gridlock at exit and access points.

Again, so much wrong here: Before Russell Street, MD 295 (a/k/a the extended part of the BW Parkway) has an interchange with I-95 (dumbass). On the other end, the Parkway doesn't dump into NY Avenue, dumbass. It divides: part goes to Kennilworth Avenue (a/k/a DC 201) and the other part connects to US 50.

270 into 495? Sure...but the way to fix that is to remove the choke points at the Legion Bridge...which desperately needs to be fixed...and the sharp curves around the Mormon Temple. Pretty easy to fix the latter part, but there are too many rich liberals living in Bethesda and Kensington who would keep that tied up in court for years.

4. What happened to helping Joe Six-Pack and the “forgotten Americans” who can’t afford E-ZPass transponders and frequent Lexus lanes?

Seriously? In case the dumbass author doesn't understand the concept, let me color him a picture: every car that takes the "Lexus Lanes" is one less car on the main road.

Does this author even live in Maryland?

The best way to fix the problem around DC is to shrink the size of the federal government around here. (Just let me sell my property first LOL) -- that will reduce the number of cars on the road better than anything else.

But since that's not likely to happen anytime soon, there are a few things that could work for DC traffic (in addition to what the Governor is proposing):

Make an "outer beltway" -- even as a toll road -- that runs along the path of the ICC on the north, connects with 301 and turns that into a freeway, and run down to Indian Head / Ft Belvoir on the east, uses the path of the Fairfax County Parkway (change to a freeway) on the south and west, and connects up to the ICC in Gaithersburg, would solve a huge amount of traffic problems. Since most of the land is already road, the amount of property that would have to be purchased under eminent domain would be really, really minimal. Yes, there would be need for two new bridges, but anybody living here has got to acknowledge the need anyway.
Make a decent way to get into the District from the west. The "Clara Barton Parkway" / Canal Road just doesn't cut it. There needs to be an actual freeway for those folks...one that connects directly to Whitehurst without having to go through lights on M Street.

I don't know Baltimore as well as DC, but the big question I have is why the little "395" spur that connects to Platt Street by Camden Yards just stops? And why does 83, which connects to the other side of Downtown just stop? Logic says, connect the two together. Maybe turn MLK Blvd into a limited access freeway. The other big question is why does 70 just stop at the Beltway? Did nobody think that it might be smart to connect it up directly with 95? Wouldn't it make sense to connect the main east-west freeway in the country with the Port of Baltimore?

</rant>

Seriously? In case the dumbass author doesn't understand the concept, let me color him a picture: every car that takes the "Lexus Lanes" is one less car on the main road. Does this author even live in Maryland?

Barry Rascovar is a former Baltimore Sun columnist. That should explain why he is a dumbass.

...why the little "395" spur that connects to Platt Street by Camden Yards just stops? And why does 83, which connects to the other side of Downtown just stop? Logic says, connect the two together....The other big question is why does 70 just stop at the Beltway? Did nobody think that it might be smart to connect it up directly with 95? Wouldn't it make sense to connect the main east-west freeway in the country with the Port of Baltimore?

The original plans were to have I-70, I-83, and I-95 connect to each other. Barbara Mikulski got her start in politics by organizing the opposition to the roads. In the late '60's, the road plans were scrapped and she went on to 45 years of "public service". Baltimore is not only the birthplace of "Babs" Mikulski, but San Fran Nan Pelosi as well.

I gotta get outta here.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.