COZY RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN
POLITICIANS, UNIONS, CONSTRUCTION FIRMS
DRIVING TAXPAYERS INTO POORHOUSE,
STIFLING VITAL PROJECTS
One of the biggest arguments for substandard transit projects like Montgomery County's proposed BRT system, and not building needed highways is, "We just don't have the money."
That's partly true, because politicians keep spending transportation funds on the folks who donate to their campaigns.
But there's a fundamental flaw to that argument, and it came to my attention recently.
Reading about a new interstate highway in the deep South, that will extend several hundred miles through three states, I was flabbergasted to find that the ambitious project's total cost was going to be less than what Maryland taxpayers are paying for the few miles of the InterCounty Connector.
As a fan of underground subways, I wonder why areas like ours have stopped building them. We're told that light rail (which I also like, by the way) is a cheaper alternative.
Initially, you might think so. New York City is building a subway extension of 8 miles for $17 billion. In contrast, Maryland has estimated the much longer Purple Line to cost around $2.2 billion as a surface light rail line.
But wait a minute, Toronto is building the 15.5 mile Englinton-Scarborough Crosstown subway line for about $8 billion.
Ironically, the ESC subway was meant to be a light rail line. But Toronto Mayor Tom Ford wisely scrapped that plan.
Subways are a far more civilized form of urban transit, particularly in dense areas. They help create world-class transit systems when stops are placed in the right spots. Subways can arrive beneath destinations, whereas light rail can be blockaded by surface obstacles around buildings. Consider the experience of arriving within the Verizon Center complex or Prince Georges Plaza, compared with remote outposts like the White Flint and Shady Grove stations.
And subways do not require all of the surface clutter and debris needed to operate light rail systems. Not to mention that subway speeds blow away bus or light rail rapid transit.
We're unlikely to match the transit ridership rates of New York City until we have a system that covers the same amount of territory the Big Apple's does.
And we won't reduce gridlock until we build our master plan highways like the Rockville Freeway, M-83 Midcounty Highway Extended, the Outer Beltway, and the Northern Parkway.
Opponents say we can't afford to do it.
It turns out that's hogwash.
Why does it cost so much to build infrastructure here? Besides nuisance lawsuits permitted by federal law, the driving force behind costs is our politicians' cozy and unethical relationships with all of the players needed to build anything. Requiring not only union labor, but with an inflated wage, causes costs to skyrocket. Design and build firms, like union leaders, give generously to politicians' campaigns. And those politicians are equally generous with the taxpayers' money, approving design and construction projects with overinflated budgets. And as we've witnessed with projects like Strathmore and the Silver Spring Transit Center, those same tight relationships seem to prevent elected officials from taking any serious, punitive measures to avoid cost overruns when projects go wrong.
While a project like the Rockville Freeway could be built for well under $1 billion under the current cost structure, it is well past time to tackle the outrageous infrastructure prices that are keeping our region from moving forward. That includes sewer and utility improvements, too! Even FDR believed that unions hold no right to bankrupt the public.
For Montgomery County in particular, it has been devastating. It doesn't have to be. We have the power to take action now to reduce the cost of building infrastructure. What we need is the leadership that can actually take on this challenge.
