THE MAN WHO

SOLD THE

WORLD...

(...OR, AT

LEAST,

MONTGOMERY

COUNTY)

Ah, this is where it gets interesting. The intrigue. The backstabbing. The dirty tricks and smoke-filled back rooms. When the shadowy special interests that decide so many of the critical issues clash with each other, the results can be surprising - and devastating.


Most citizens are simply too busy working to follow the minute, cryptic, and secret dealings that go on, with very little notification from their elected officials about hearings and votes on important legislation. And, believe me, our elected officials know it! This is by their own design. It turns out that many critical decisions have been made without the knowledge of the public. Decisions that effect us for decades to come.


Here in Montgomery County, we have the 2nd worst commute in the nation. This is in large part due to the failure of our elected officials to build the infrastucture necessary to support the overdevelopment they have approved. But I have always wondered how planning "experts" could have allowed this to happen. Why, when Montgomery County's "wedges and corridors" and, especially, L'Enfant's D.C. were so cleverly designed way back, does the region function so poorly in practical use?

We know that our transit system is woefully behind that of other cities and nations. We have a few spokes radiating out from the center of D.C., where New York and Paris have a network. And I personally have always felt like some basic elements of our road system are also missing. Now I have some proof which validates my suspicion.


An enlightening obituary in Monday's Washington Post suggests that our traffic woes may also be due to decisions made way back in the 1950s and 60s.

Peter Craig is described as the man who "fought to keep superhighways out of D.C."


Considering we don't have any superhighways in our area, that is a sad and shocking headline.

It turns out that up to 7 superhighways were planned to radiate out of Washington in the 1950s and 60s.

These included one of particular interest to Montgomery County: a superhighway that would have run "from the Georgetown waterfront[,] up Glover-Archbold Park (sic) and out Wisconsin Avenue into Bethesda, where it would have joined what is now Interstate 270."

If you are reading this on your BlackBerry, Droid, or iPhone while stuck in traffic, you might feel like throwing it out the window after reading that. But don't! Instead, use it to surf over to www.RobertDyer.net where you can join my crusade to finally modernize our laughingstock of a transportation system!

But back to our story...

Can you imagine what that highway might have done to relieve the gridlock on 355 and 495 to the 270 spur?

Another project Mr. Craig (and, of course, it wasn't just Mr. Craig alone) stopped was a bridge carrying Route 66 over the Potomac into Washington. Again, wouldn't that have made a difference in today's gridlock?

Mr. Craig of the "powerful Covington and Burlington law firm," used "Capitol Hill contacts" to achieve a "ban on freeways west of Rock Creek and north of M Street."

As George W. Bush once said, "Heckuva job, Brownie!"

Imagine the impact 7 superhighways might have had, and you realize that, yes, something has indeed been missing all along.

This reminds me of two things among others: the coordinated effort to stop the CSX Georgetown Branch from becoming a commuter rail line, and the many haters of the Whitehurst Freeway, one of the best, and most utilitarian and scenic in Washington, D.C.

A coalition of special interests, elected officials, and wealthy, well-connected residents of Bethesda and Chevy Chase successfully stopped a vital transit link in the late 1980s and early 90s. A former CSX freight line was set to become a MARC commuter rail route from Silver Spring to the Georgetown waterfront via Bethesda. Commuters, shoppers, and tourists would all have used this line, and businesses along it would have greatly benefitted.

Instead, it was stopped cold, and the Capital Crescent Trail was installed overnight. A trail so passionately argued over today, you'd be surprised to learn it was never meant to exist to begin with!

I remember watching the destruction of the railroad. As a child, it was my own neighborhood railroad. And now it was gone. If Montgomery County Government had placed the energy, speed, and passion it put into that demolition effort into the major challenges we've faced, we would be a superior county today.

Instead, we have withered on the vine. Only the irrelevant ICC - a toll road for the rich - has been built. Meanwhile, the expansion of 270 and 355 is not going to happen under the current "leadership." Expansion of MARC? Forget about it under the same current "leadership."

If we don't make changes in 2010, we're not going anywhere.