I-270, I-495 Toll Lanes Voted Back Into Action By Planning Board

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — The I-270/I-495 HOT Lanes are back in the fold of Gov. Larry Hogan’s Traffic Rescue Plan. The Planning Board voted Wednesday afternoon to reverse its previous decision to cut the tolls out of a federal environmental study needed for the toll plan to progress.

The toll lanes have sparked controversy between Maryland and Montgomery County leaders, as County Executive Marc Elrich says that they don’t understand the potential environmental impact enough and toll lanes won’t do enough to help the average person’s commute. Hogan says the revenue from toll lanes are necessary to fund other transportation projects.

Elrich and other county leaders have pushed back against that claim, saying that the governor is threatening to pull money he never offered in the first place — the projects Hogan said will be lost have not been granted funding in the first place, they said.

"Creating a public perception that these projects would be killed and the money would be withdrawn when there was no actual money to withdraw — that's bullying," said Elrich at an event protesting the toll lanes on Tuesday. "Telling people that we're going to condemn you to soul crushing traffic when the reality is, if you're not in the toll lane, the governor will be keeping the other lanes so congested that people are willing to pay to get out of those lanes."

Other Montgomery County leaders have come out in favor of the toll lane plan, though, with five council members publishing a statement of their support Tuesday.

“Ultimately, we recognize that Montgomery County must remain tightly connected with the rest of the Washington metropolitan region,” the statement reads. “With a real transit alternative and further opportunities to work with the State to improve the project moving forward, we believe the County should vote to allow the project to be included in the 'Visualize 2045' air quality conformance analysis at the Transportation Planning Board.”