For Immediate Release: Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Montgomery County Council and
Fairfax Board of Supervisors Jointly
Ask Governors to Relieve Congestion by
Improving American Legion Bridge
ROCKVILLE, Md., October 21, 2015—The members of the Montgomery County Council and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors have jointly sent a letter to Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe asking that the two states “come together and focus on making improvements to address the severe congestion problems at the American Legion Bridge.”
About 300,000 vehicles daily cross the bridge via the Beltway that connects the two counties. Most morning and evening rush hours result in severe traffic backups around the bridge.
The letter asks that improving the American Legion Bridge take priority over the possibility of building another crossing of the Potomac River.
“In a time of very constrained fiscal realities, making improvements to the American Legion Bridge will allow us to more cost-effectively address our traffic challenges,” states the letter. “We believe it is critical for Maryland and Virginia to focus our resources on what we can realistically achieve in the near term.”
“The American Legion Bridge is the major chokepoint in our regional transportation system and it must be fixed,” said Councilmember Roger Berliner, chair of the Montgomery Council’s Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee. “Adding an additional HOT lane in each direction will ease congestion and promote transit. Our two states must work together to make this happen.
“Montgomery County believes strongly that our limited resources are best spent fixing the American Legion Bridge, and we should not be distracted by a divisive second crossing. That’s why we, as two bodies, are calling on our governors to move forward with this vital transportation improvement as quickly as possible."
Sharon Bulova, who chairs the Fairfax Board of Supervisors, said: “Extending the Express Lanes to 270 and making long needed improvements to the American Legion Bridge will help reduce congestion and help businesses and residents on both sides of the Potomac. Cooperation between Maryland and Virginia is key to achieving these near term goals."
The complete text of the letter:
October 19, 2015
Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan The Honorable Terence R. McAuliffe
State House Governor of Virginia
100 State Circle P.O. Box 1475
Annapolis, MD 21401 Richmond, VA 23218
Sec. Pete K. Rahn The Honorable Aubrey L. Layne, Jr.
Maryland Department of Transportation Secretary of Transportation
P.O. Box 548 Patrick Henry Building
7201 Corporate Center Drive 1111 East Broad Street, Third Floor
Hanover, MD 21076 Richmond, VA 23218
Dear Governor Hogan, Governor McAuliffe, Secretary Rahn, and Secretary Layne,
As members of the Montgomery County Council and Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, we write today to ask that the Maryland and Virginia Departments of Transportation come together and focus on making improvements to address the severe congestion problems at the American Legion Bridge.
As you certainly appreciate, the American Legion Bridge is a vital transportation and economic link for not only Fairfax and Montgomery, but for Maryland and Virginia and, in some ways, the entire East Coast. And today, it is a choke point that has serious negative consequences for our economies, our environment, and our quality of life.
Every day, nearly 300,000 vehicles cross over the tremendously congested bridge, making it the single most-utilized Potomac River crossing in the region. As cars sit in traffic, there are currently no mass transit alternatives across the Bridge. During the afternoon rush, average vehicle speeds slow to 34.9 mph on the Outer Loop and 22.5 mph on the Inner Loop. And while Virginia has made a series of improvements on I-495 to help ease congestion, until we collectively address the bridge itself, cars will remain stuck in gridlock.
In 2012 the Montgomery County Council and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors requested MDOT and VDOT to add two lanes to the Beltway from the I-270 West Spur to Virginia for high-occupancy-toll (HOT) lanes, which is substantially consistent with the Commonwealth of Virginia Transportation Board’s recent call to extend its Beltway express toll lanes into Maryland. Presumably this could be evaluated as part of the $6 million study in MDOT’s Consolidated Transportation Program for this segment of the Beltway (as well as lower I-270).
At that time we also urged MDOT and VDOT to provide, in the short-term, transit priority on the seven-mile segment of the Beltway between the southern terminus of the I-270 West Spur HOV lanes and the Dulles Access Road, where Virginia’s express toll lanes currently begin. However, in the last three years we have seen little or no action on either request. We repeat these two requests; the need to address this problem is now more urgent than ever.
While we appreciate that there is some interest in pursuing a second crossing of the Potomac, the fact is, according to Virginia’s “Morning Commuter Traffic Crossing American Legion Bridge” study, a significant percentage of Bridge commuters are headed for destinations along, or within, the Beltway corridor. These motorists would be best served by improvements to the existing American Legion Bridge.
Moreover, in a time of very constrained fiscal realities, making improvements to the American Legion Bridge will allow us to more cost-effectively address our traffic challenges. We believe it is critical for Maryland and Virginia to focus our resources on what we can realistically achieve in the near term.
Our communities are prepared to work closely with you to improve mobility on American Legion Bridge and create the necessary space for transit alternatives between the counties. We ask that our two states work together so that we can move forward on the necessary and appropriate improvements to this vital highway link.
Thank you for your consideration of this issue. We look forward to your response.