Last-Minute Maneuvers Attempt to Derail Hogan Road-Widening Plan
Two days out from a key vote on the Hogan administration’s controversial plan to widen two Washington, D.C.-area highways, opponents ratcheted up their pressure Monday on Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D), considered a swing vote on the influential Board of Public Works.
While Franchot, a former state legislator from Montgomery County, was being briefed on the plan by staff, local leaders publicly urged the state to adopt a vastly different approach to the capital region’s traffic woes, and a large coalition of civic, environmental and transportation groups portrayed Hogan’s proposal as poorly conceived, overly expensive, and harmful to parks and air quality.
They also faulted the administration for failing to work collaboratively with county officials in the Washington suburbs.
There were several developments:
— Montgomery County Executive Marc B. Elrich (D) and local leaders from his county, Prince George’s and Frederick held a news conference to tout an alternative transportation plan that they claimed would provide more congestion relief at lower cost and with less impact on surrounding communities than the state’s plan.
Read more: https://www.marylandmatters.org/2019/06/03/last-minute-maneuvers-attempt-to-derail-hogan-road-widening-plan/