For Immediate Release: Monday, February 27, 2012
ROCKVILLE, Md., Feb. 27, 2012—Montgomery County Councilmember George Leventhal today joined regional leaders and community members in a forum that focused on progress being made to bring three major transportation projects to Montgomery County. In his remarks, Councilmember Leventhal emphasized that vital decisions must be made now with the long-term future of the area’s transportation needs in mind.
“We have a choice,” said Councilmember Leventhal. “Government can sit back, collect taxpayer money and have little to show for it, or it can be straight-up with the public, invest what it truly costs to fund transportation adequately, and provide meaningful and lasting benefits that improve people’s day to day lives.”
The forum, at the Gaithersburg Marriott at Rio, was co-sponsored by the Suburban Maryland Transportation Alliance, Purple Line Now!, the Corridor Cities Transitway Coalition, the American Council of Engineering Companies (Maryland) and The 2030 Group.
The Suburban Maryland Transportation Alliance has been organizing a series of forums across the region in an attempt update progress on the projects and to ensure that moment continues on all three.
The forum addressed the top priority projects in Montgomery County, the state of transportation funding available to pay for any of them and the need for immediate action to increase transportation funding so the benefits of these investments—both in terms of transportation metrics and economic benefits—will become realities.
Complete text of remarks by Montgomery County Councilmember George L. Leventhal on “Transportation Revenue and Necessary Transit Improvements”:
I have with me two slides that demonstrate the State’s commitment to needed transportation improvements in Montgomery County, but which also highlight the impending gap in transportation funding affecting projects like the Purple Line and Corridor Cities Transitway. Thankfully, we have an opportunity over the course of the next few weeks in the Maryland General Assembly to fill this gap, fund all of our transportation needs across the state and stop congestion from spiraling out of control.
Skeptics say the federal and state commitment to the Purple Line is uncertain. But in fact, the state and the federal government are spending real money, right now, on these projects. As the first slide[1] indicates, the State and the Feds combined will have spent a total of $345 million dollars through 2014 on the engineering and design of the Purple Line. Similarly, as the second slide[2] indicates, the State and the Feds combined will have spent $40.7 million on the CCT by 2014. The State wouldn’t spend this kind of money if it did not intend to construct these projects. We don’t have that kind of money to waste. Last week, I met with Maryland Secretary of Transportation Beverley Swaim-Staley and she said, “If these projects weren’t a priority, we would have slowed them way down by now.” Governor O’Malley is fully committed not only to the planning and design of these projects, but to their construction.
While the financial commitment from the State to design and plan the Purple Line and CCT is encouraging, you’ll notice that in 2015 we fall off the cliff in terms of money available. No construction dollars are programmed either for these projects or dozens of other transportation projects. The State of Maryland must commit construction dollars to these projects if they are ever going to go beyond idealism. The only way we will ever see the Purple Line or the CCT is for the General Assembly to pass a dedicated transportation funding package that brings in more revenue than what we’re bringing in now. It’s as simple as that. Current transportation revenue barely covers the maintenance of our existing infrastructure. It isn’t sufficient to make transportation investments like the Purple Line and CCT which will actually alleviate congestion and spur economic development.
Montgomery County like all other jurisdictions has a mile-long list of transportation projects that are needed to relieve congestion. We have dozens of projects that are ready for construction today, but they are stuck in limbo because we lack the funding to build them. Our backlog is growing and we are only getting further behind in addressing our needs. Government has gotten into the unfortunate habit of delaying needed projects while our constituents are left wondering when if ever things will get better. Constituents expect results, not excuses and endless delays.
Under Governor O’Malley’s proposal the state could raise an additional $613 million dollars a year to meet the state’s transportation needs. $613 million dollars a year would be enough to fund the Purple Line in only three years and that doesn’t even take into account the expected federal commitment. $613 million dollars a year would be enough to construct Montgomery County’s top twelve road projects in just two years! If we are serious about our commitment to transportation improvements and bettering the lives of residents then we must approve an increase in transportation funding.
I know my constituents are frustrated with government and I’m as frustrated as they are. The public today with good reason feels like government can’t do anything right. Whether it’s at the federal, state, or local level we’re providing them with evidence that that’s true. A fundamental question is emerging among the public, “Can government produce tangible benefits to the people that pay taxes?” A key test is our ability to produce the Purple Line in this decade. The federal government has already approved preliminary engineering. The next step is a full funding agreement to construct the system. A key factor in making that decision is whether the state government has a funding plan in place to fulfill its share of the cost.
As the prospect of actually constructing the Purple Line in this decade comes into clear focus, elected officials, understandably, are experiencing sticker shock. Many elected officials have pledged their support for the Purple Line but now we are approaching the day of reckoning. It is one thing to say you support the Purple Line, to wear a purple shirt or skirt, attend a rally or lend your name to an event. Actually appropriating the millions of real dollars and making the tough decisions that go along with that is much more difficult. Any time you start acquiring right of way and building something that wasn’t there before, you encounter political resistance. The easiest course in response to the political resistance would be to do nothing, but that is not the reason we ran for office. We ran for office to change things for the better and improve the quality of people’s lives.
We need to keep our eyes on the prize. The Purple Line will carry 60,000 riders per day by 2030. It will generate an estimated 27,000 new jobs per year and attract $10 billion in new investment to the region. It will connect the two legs of Metro’s Red Line with the Green and Orange Lines, two legs of the MARC train and Amtrak. It will make travel easy between Montgomery’s two largest urban centers, Bethesda and Silver Spring, our state’s flagship research university, the University of Maryland, and the emerging inside-the-beltway growth communities of Prince George’s County. The Purple Line epitomizes smart growth and will foster desirable transit oriented development that maximizes our existing investments. We have already spent so much in time and treasure to make it happen. We can’t walk away now.
We have a choice. Government can sit back, collect taxpayer money and have little to show for it, or it can be straight-up with the public, invest what it truly costs to fund transportation adequately, and provide meaningful and lasting benefits that improve people’s day to day lives. It is reasonable to debate the details of the funding package that ultimately passes, but to let this session slip by without increasing the money available to the Transportation Trust Fund is to relegate our communities to more potholes, more time spent stuck in traffic and stagnant economic growth. Let’s hope our legislators make the right decision. Thank you for allowing me to give these remarks.
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[1]http://www.mdot.maryland.gov/Office%20of%20Planning%20and%20Capital%20Programming/CTP/CTP_Documents/Final_CTP/12_MTA.pdf, page 49 of 71.
[2] Ibid., page 50 of 71.
Release ID: 12-032
Media Contact: Neil Greenberger 240-777-7939, Delphine Harriston 240-777-7931