Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has approved the Purple Line light rail project that will connect Bethesda and New Carrollton. But he said the state's contribution to the project will be $168 million instead of $700 million. That will greatly increase the cost to Montgomery and Prince George's Counties.
In his press conference today, Hogan also announced about $2 billion in funding for roads and bridges. That will include funds for widening Interstate 270.
5 comments:
Where will the widening take place?
Do he know it is widening?
"I-270 – Implementing Innovative Congestion Reduction Strategies (Maryland Department of Transportation’s pilot project to develop statewide congestion tools)
MD 85/I-270 – Reconstructing the I-270/MD 85 interchange to reduce congestion and upgrade structurally deficient bridges (Frederick County’s #1 priority)."
Source: http://governor.maryland.gov/2015/06/25/governor-larry-hogan-announces-1-97-billion-in-transportation-funding/
Looks like no other money for Montgomery? No US 29 improvements? A tiny fraction of what's going to roads in rural areas of the state. $1.8 billion for roads and bridges and $170 million for the Purple Line.
Looks like he's harking back to his roots as a greenfield developer.
The only thing he did was throw supports a bone and said deal with it. His approach of roads and more roads is what creates more congestion. Build it and they WILL come. An auto-centric society serves no future purpose but continued sprawl. The main reason Marriott gives for relocating is the Millenial make-up of his work-force. They are not auto oriented, rather alternative transit oriented. These are the future users of shared use transit, be it light-rail, trolleys, shared autos, etc. if Hogan wants to move Maryland forward he needs to stop the backward thinking. No more roads.
He completely ignored Montgomery County's needs on their state roads. I can't think of a reason why anyone from Montgomery would support him regardless of party.
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