Hogan Blasts MOCO Officials Ahead Of Traffic Relief Plan Meeting

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — Gov. Larry Hogan has criticized several Montgomery County officials, saying they are preventing the progress of the Maryland Traffic Relief Plan that the Department of Transportation is set to discuss next week.

“Momentum is growing for our bipartisan interstate plan to fix the American Legion Bridge and relieve traffic congestion on the Capital Beltway," said Hogan in a news release. "This multimodal project will address one of the worst traffic bottlenecks in the country, add more transit services as well as bike and pedestrian paths, and free up funding to advance projects across the state."

County Executive Marc Elrich has criticized the plan to widen the highway in the past, saying that while traffic relief is needed, the current plan doesn't account for environmental impact and ignores problems north of Maryland Route 20.

Hogan has accused Elrich and other Montgomery County officials of threatening the project's passage, which he says will ease congestion.

“Despite all this, a tiny group of out-of-touch Montgomery County politicians continue to try and sabotage the project, catering to pro-traffic activists at the expense of the overwhelming majority of residents who want something done about the traffic and who support our plan," said Hogan in the release. "Their actions threaten to derail the new American Legion Bridge, the whole plan, and critical projects throughout the region."

Elrich told reporters that Hogan has mischaracterized some of his opposition toward the project, particularly related to the American Legion Bridge.

"I think the bridge has to be dealt with, and I said that in the beginning," Elrich told reporters Wednesday.