County Executive Elrich to Testify at Board of Public Works Meeting in Opposition to Governor Hogan’s Plan to Add Four Private Toll Lanes to I-495 and I-270 in Montgomery County

County Executive Elrich to Testify at Board of Public Works Meeting in Opposition to Governor Hogan’s Plan to Add Four Private Toll Lanes to I-495 and I-270 in Montgomery County

Per Montgomery County:

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Wednesday, Aug. 11, at 10 a.m., the State of Maryland’s Board of Public Works will meet in Annapolis to vote on approving Governor Hogan’s plan to add four private toll lanes to I-495 and I-270. Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich will be testifying at this meeting in opposition to this plan. Yesterday, County Executive Elrich sent the following letter to the Board of Public Works explaining his concerns and opposition to this plan. The letter highlights the project’s design and environmental flaws, the lack of evidence for a public-private partnership financing plan, lack of consensus building, and proposes a possible path forward.

“Despite the expenditure of over $140 million and over four years of work, the basic questions about what investment is needed and how to pay for it have not been answered,” said County Executive Elrich. “Most of the State’s time and money has been spent steamrolling a preordained solution over the public process and invalidating all other ideas based on self-imposed constraints and requirements. An opportunity for us to move forward together has been squandered. The agreement provides no traffic relief north of I-370, leaving Frederick County, Washington County, Carroll County, and northern Montgomery County commuters stranded in congestion, shown in Maryland Department of Transportation studies to be worse than it is now.”

Prior to attending the Board of Public Works meeting, County Executive Elrich will join other elected officilas and advocates representing community, environmental, mass transit and land preservation organizations at a press conference in front of the Goldstein Treasury Building, 80 Calvert Street in Annapolis, to encourage the Board of Public Works to not move forward with this project at this time.