At the June TPB meeting, the update to Visualize 2045, the region’s long-range transportation plan, reached a key milestone. The TPB approved the inputs to the update to move the plan on for a required air quality conformity analysis. The plan update being analyzed will consist of more than 600 highway and transit projects totaling $290 billion that the region expects to fund through 2045.

Also included in the approval, the board overwhelmingly supported a new mandate for the TPB to initiate a full update of Visualize 2045 using scenario analyses to examine the impacts of the planned investments on the region’s adopted goals and targets such as safety, mobility, accessibility, equity and  reducing greenhouse gases. Additionally, the board held a robust discussion and removed the Express Toll Lanes project in Maryland from the air quality analysis. This action means that, pending a resolution of concerns of some member jurisdictions and a re-consideration by the board, the project will not be in the 2022 plan update.

The vote on Wednesday was the culmination of a series of discussions the board held over the last few months and consideration of comments and letters received from the public regarding the Express Toll Lanes as well as the long-range plan’s impact on climate change

TPB staff started things off with a presentation about the approval. TPB Staff Director Kanti Srikanth provided background and reviewed the inputs that need to be included in the analysis and the process for the long-range transportation plan. The inputs approved at the meeting included the Cooperative Forecasts which look at how much the region’s population and jobs will grow by 2045. It also includes hundreds of new and existing projects submitted to Visualize 2045, including projects like the Long Bridge linking the District of Columbia and Virginia and the Purple Line project in Maryland. These inputs will be used to analyze the plan for its impact on air quality in the region.

TPB Planner Eric Randall reviewed the preliminary Financial Analysis that is ongoing. He explained that the plan must show that the projects included in the air quality conformity analysis (the financially constrained element of the plan) are expected to be reasonably funded by 2045 to be included.

A more climate-focused planning process

At the May meeting, acknowledging that his colleagues were interested in combating climate change within the transportation sector, Board member and Montgomery County Councilmember Evan Glass offered a resolution asking the TPB to conduct an alternate build scenario in addition to the modeling work needed for the Air Quality Conformity determination. Over the course of the month, Glass reworked the resolution, given the assessment that the scenarios could not be completed in time to meet the required fiscal constraint demonstration and meet the federal deadline, and offered an alternative to the resolution he had previously proposed.

In describing his substitute resolution, Glass explained that he did not want to adversely impact the plans for a federally compliant plan update and that the idea behind his proposal  was to acknowledge that the region must act now to combat climate change. His substitute resolution, he explained, now provides for the planned 2022 update to continue on schedule, while  requiring the board to undertake  a thorough reevaluation of the projects in the plan so that it meets the region’s goals including climate change  and to  accelerate the schedule for the next update of the long-range transportation plan. “There is consensus that the process needs to account for climate change,” he explained. Glass also thanked the Virginia Department of Transportation and Chair Charles Allen for their help in crafting the revised resolution. 

TPB removed the Maryland I-270 and I-495 project from the inputs

Once the board agreed to the revisions to the resolution, it next took up approving the conformity inputs for the plan update, including projects. Board member Gary Erenrich representing Montgomery County moved to remove the Maryland Express Toll Lanes from the plan as requested by the Montgomery County Executive. He cited that the County Executive had concerns about several aspects of the project including the alternatives considered and their environmental impacts. He noted that the County Executive believes that there are less costly and environmentally impactful ways of making improvements to these roadways with substantial improvements to transit.

Board member and Rockville Mayor Bridget Newton talked about the impact the I-270 project would have on the neighborhoods next to the project. She acknowledged as a previous TPB Chair, that she understood the importance of taking a regional view of the entire transportation system. Even through that lens, she expressed some serious concerns. “This is not ready for prime time. This project does nothing to move our region forward — not in social justice, not in environmental justice, and it’s not the way we should be going,” she said.

Board member Kelly Russell, an alderman in the city of Frederick, said the toll lanes would provide better mass transit for residents in her outer suburb because commuter buses would use the lanes free.  She said that Frederick won’t get expanded MARC commuter rail anytime soon, and “our option is commuter bus,” Russell said. “The only way to move consistently dependable commuter buses is with these toll lanes.”

Arlington County Board member Christian Dorsey (D) said he objected because the proposal “seems nowhere close” to having broad state and local consensus.

Board member Earl Lewis, representing MDOT, urged not to remove the project from the plan noting that the Express Lanes had been added to the plan with consensus in 2018. “It is not a question of roads or transit. Our system needs to work efficiently for everyone,” he said.

Based on an infrequently used proportional vote, the board voted to remove the Express Lanes project from further consideration at this time. The project removed was to have two high occupancy toll lanes, in each direction, on I-495 and I-270 between the American Legion Bridge and I-70 in Frederick County.  Maryland’s proposal to study two high occupancy toll lanes, in each direction, on I-495 between I-270 and the Woodrow Wilson bridge remains in the update to Visualize 2045. 

Once the board voted on the substitute resolution and struck the Maryland Express Lanes from the inputs, the board approved the final resolution. Now that the inputs have been approved, TPB staff can continue to analyze the inputs for their effects on air quality. Once that year-long analysis is complete, Visualize 2045 will be drafted and sent to the TPB for approval in June 2022. The update to Visualize 2045 will include a rededication to equity, roadway safety, and planning for a more resilient region. It will also highlight the region’s policies and goals plus bicycle and pedestrian, freight elements, and more.

Watch and listen to the presentation and board discussion.

Learn more about Visualize 2045 

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