A Transit Vision for the I-270 Corridor
The Idea
- Extend the Red Line to Gaithersburg and Germantown Town Center
- All-day, two-way MARC service between D.C. and Frederick, with trains every 15 minutes in rush hour
- MARC commuter trains to Hagerstown
- Light rail from Shady Grove through King Farm, Kentlands, and Germantown to Clarksburg Town Center (the Corridor Cities Transitway)
- Light rail along Route 355 from White Flint Mall to Lakeforest Mall, with the roadway rebuilt as a European-style boulevard
The Maryland State Highway Administration is promoting a $4 billion plan to add toll lanes to I-270 between Shady Grove and Frederick. But there is a better answer. The transit vision for the I-270 corridor would provide more and better transportation, do more for economic development, and be better for the environment. It will even cost less.
Why Transit?
Widening the highway won't get rid of congestion, despite the enormous cost-the last time I-270 was widened, traffic was as bad as ever in less than ten years. And it won't do anything about traffic on overcrowded local roads. Investing in a transit vision will:- Get commuters to work without the pain of fighting traffic.
- Provide easy access to jobs in Frederick City, Germantown town center, Lakeforest, Old Town Gaithersburg, and the Rockville Pike Corridor.
- Stimulate a different, more compact growth pattern.
- Promote economic development in an environmentally sustainable manner.
- Support the revitalization of Hagerstown.
- Protect 251 families whose homes will be demolished if I-270 is widened.
What Now?
The Action Committee for Transit, Sierra Club, and others first called for an I-270 transit vision in 1997 called for an I-270 transit vision. For twelve years, the State Highway Administration has studied one expensive road-widening plan after another, while refusing to analyze an all-transit solution for the corridor. Read about the years of resistance to this concept.Now the Maryland Department of Transportation has asked county governments what it should do next. This is the time to be heard. Here's what you can do:
- Send an email to your local government:
- Montgomery County: county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov
- Frederick County: countycommissioners@fredco-md.net
- Washington County: commissioners@washco-md.net
- Join the Action Committee for Transit, the citizen advocates for better transit. If you can't join now, you can get on our mailing list by signing up here