Comments on Zombie road rises from the dead in upcounty Montgomery - Greater Greater Washington

Comment by Cyrus

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:15:42 EDT

Completing the Eastern Arterial is essential to the I-270 Corridor economic development scheme, much like the Western Arterial (AKA Great Seneca Highway) has resulted in economic success in Kentlands and Science City. M-83 will connect communities along a corridor that has suffered in economic development that has gravitated west of I-270. The connection to the ICC will link the I-95 corridor to the I-270 corridor cities, bypassing traffic on I-270 and MD 355. A miniature beltway combining I-370, M-83 and Seneca Highway will lead to strategic economic development in this most important corridor. M-83 will also lead to the revitalization of Montgomery Village which is now isolated but will be linked directly to the I-95 corridor, opening up affordable housing in the Village and leading to planned revitalization and development of the Lakeforest area high-rise downtown.

The official ICC plans have an interchange with M-83 designed into the project, but constructed at a later date, hence the extra tunnel lanes and placement of sound barriers, however the interchange will require additional property aquisition.

Finally, the majority of the right of way along the master planned alignment is already dedicated, making this a very affordable road for the billions in economic development created. Like the ICC, I have walked the entire M-83 MPA route and there are environmental challenges, but pale in comparison to the ICC that is due to be completed next winter and is already resulting in billions in investment in Science City, White Flint, and East County. The time is to build this roadway to the future.

Comment by Michael

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:02:16 EDT

Development of the M-83 Option A could incorporate dedicated bus rapid transit lines which would provide a direct line of transportation for all of the residents in Clarksburg, Germantown, Montgomery Village, and the existing mid-county highway straight to Shady Grove metro station. This would accomplish a large portion of what the CCT is designed to do sooner and more cost effectively. In the long term, there is still the need for the CCT to serve areas west of I-270, but areas east need a solution now, and Option A of the M-83 accomplishes this.

Comment by Tim Barry

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:14:00 EDT

Do any of the commentators on this blog actually live in the area that the M-83 will serve? The current road system in the area is over crowded and completely inadequate for all the new residential areas. The entire up-County development was planned and in large part constructed based on anticipation of M-83 which is intended in large part to be a feeder to the Shady Grove Metro. If you want to hear a giant sucking sound of Montgomery County tax money, start design and construction on a light/heavy rail from Shady Grove. Then all the projects that everyone on this blog advocates for will be buried far down the list. The M-83 is a near term cost effective improvement to transit.

By the way, what strip malls? Clarksburg can't get a grocery store built. Perhaps you are speaking of Gaithersburg which has been pretty much the same for 40 years now. The only new development I am aware of is Milestone which hardly qualifies as a strip mall. The fact is that there is almost no new retail in the new up-County residential developments.

Comment by WRD

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 21:23:10 EDT

Why not give this money to WMATA?

Comment by Douglas Willinger

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 20:04:58 EDT

The tunnel segment of the ICC in Derwood has one additional unused lane (eastbound) to accomodate the connection to the MidCounty Highway- though the westbound side does not.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2011/02/inter-county-connector-to-be-open.html

Comment by PaulaBienenfeld

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:55:53 EDT

'Boulevardizing' the Rockville Pike is a sham that the developers and county planners are pulling. The developers should pay for the required infrastructure for their new developments, not the taxpayers who don't want these 300-ft tall buildings with unsustainable development and failing intersections in the first place. Rockville Pike will slow down of its own accord, when the 40,000 new jobs and 30,000 new residents move in there with no new public transit. DOT already knows this as does every traffic engineer within miles. If you want a glimpse of what's to come, take the red line, get off at the WF Metro, and walk over to the new Whole Foods. Watch as cars angle in to tight parking spaces, and pedestrians run across the street from between parked cars. Try not to get hit.

Comment by Jim

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 10:07:40 EDT

Did anyone see this post and immediately get excited for M-83 at the Black Cat in October? I think that's an M-83 everyone can support.

Comment by Mark

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 22:48:09 EDT

It sickens me that the county is still obsessed with sprawl and fixated on the auto. Give it 10 years before it resembles the western half of Long Island filled with strip malls, chain stores and half-baked housing "communities." Then again, Montgomery county's commonwealth neighbor to the south is on the same path. Sad. Very sad. But, the folks who are promoting these plans were voted in.

Comment by Matt R

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 22:28:21 EDT

As someone who lives in the area I am not against the idea of a study, in fact future transit options could be built into an expansion of MCH. However I do agree that more transit around the county would be better then a new road.

As for the comment about adding an ICC interchange at the south end. In some of the earlier ICC master plans they had basically already designed the interchange. However somewhere along the line the road alignment changed and I am not sure it would be possible anymore.

Comment by Matt Johnson

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:20:33 EDT

I have deleted a comment by TerrapinKing which violated our comment policy. That's disappointing because the comment was largely on topic.

If you'd like to re-post it without insulting the author of the post and by giving him the full respect he deserves, please feel free to do so. Thank you for understanding.

Comment by dan reed!

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:38:16 EDT

I've seen Arora Hills, and I've also seen Clarksburg Village, Clarksburg Town Center, Germantown Town Center, etc. It's not perfect, but it's also not done, either. These places were built with transit in mind and they should get that transit (lest we repeat what happened along Route 29, where apartments were built in White Oak & Briggs Chaney in the 80's in anticipation of light rail that never got built).

Building transit instead of new roads here reinforces previous design and planning choices made in these communities, whereas building new roads undermines them.

Comment by Mike

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:19:37 EDT

"Why is there money for M-83 when the county executive's office refuses to add boulevardizing Rockville Pike in White Flint to the CIP"

Answer is because the county leaders still think it's the 1970's

Comment by Miriam

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:12:57 EDT

@dan reed -- It's not fair to characterize a "community organized around transit" as "sprawl", except insofar as the community is not actually organized around transit. And have you seen Arora (sic) Hills lately?

Comment by BS_Dawg

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:05:16 EDT

It would be damn shame if this road were built. Not quite on the scale of calamity of the ICC, but a shame nonetheless. Building the CCT would be a much better use of money and resources, but don't expect that to happen anytime soon considering how many other projects competing for federal and state dollars are ahead of it in the pipeline (Red Line and Purple Line). For all the lip service our county council gives to "smart growth" and TOD, we'll see if they actually walk the walk by simply killing such sprawl inducing projects. Call me cynical, but I've always said the county council is just giving the county away to developers. They tout the importance of TOD to justify allowing developers to totally build out near an existing or proposed transist stop. At the same time, they'll embrace new roads knowing full well how much money is to be made by the sprawl developers.

Comment by Cavan

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:01:44 EDT

Dan, but characterizing M-83 as going through car-dependent places and over protected wetlands is accurate.

Comment by dan reed!

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:52:41 EDT

To play devil's advocate: the Master Plans for Clarksburg and Germantown call for "communities organized around transit," mid- to high-density development, compact, walkable neighborhoods, and a mix of housing, offices and retail.

What's been built since then isn't perfect, but some of it is decent (Germantown Town Center in particular has a walkable, if small downtown area). And both communities are bounded by greenbelts (Germantown is surrounded by a series of state and county parks) and the Ag Reserve, which may face "pressure" to develop but there's absolutely no political support for doing so.

So maybe a new highway in the Upcounty isn't the best use of funds (I agree that it should go to the Corridor Cities Transitway, BRT, and MARC expansion), but characterizing this area as "sprawl" isn't really fair.

Comment by Reza

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:49:01 EDT

The M-83 plan in this day and age is misguided. However, I would not mind seeing the eastern extension of Midcounty Highway built to a new half-interchange at the ICC. It would help mitigate the large distance in exits between Shady Grove and Georgia Ave. But while the state or county owns this right-of-way, the impacts to nearby Redland Park may be too great.

Comment by Ben Ross

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:08:24 EDT

The transformation of Rockville Pike into a boulevard around White Flint is now funded - but by revenues raised from developers in the immediate vicinity. The new stairway into White Flint Metro remains unfunded. Meanwhile, the county's taxpayers are subsidizing upcounty sprawl.