Here We Go Again (Again).... Press Release Here

1988, 2001, 2004, 2015 and 2017- all years that a Potomac bridge and highway crossing have been studied and found to not be a good solution.  And yet- the Supervisors in Loudoun County have funded yet another study to identify crossing points. Loudoun's study even parrots the negative findings of the 2017 Regional Transportation Planning Board: ​

So... why are we studying it again, again?

MCA joins with our partners at Coalition for Smarter Growth and Piedmont Environmental Council, collectively representing our hundreds of thousands of supporters on both sides of the River in calling for Loudoun County to drop this campaign and instead focus on proven solutions that will actually get traffic moving - among them, fixing the American Legion Bridge and better planning land use patterns. As proven for the 5th time in 20 years, this project does not offer traffic relief and would do great harm. 

The Maryland side of the map above makes it looks like the Ag Reserve has no obstacles to these proposed crossing points. MCA has made the case time and again  - farms are not holding ground for future development, they are small businesses that supply our basic needs for food and fiber.  “The bridge would directly impact the drinking water intakes for most of the region’s population; potentially impair the Piedmont groundwater aquifer, which serves as the sole source of drinking water in rural Montgomery County; create development pressure in the nationally recognized Agricultural Reserve; and increase vehicle miles traveled,” says Taylor.

Montgomery Countryside Alliance  is the small (but mighty!) organization founded around Ag Reserve kitchen tables to battle back plans for the bridge in 2001. Since then, we have grown to a full fledged watchdog organization for Montgomery County's Agricultural Reserve. Our focus on local farms relies on local support. Please make a tax-deductible donation to keep us engaging tenaciously on the issues that matter to you. 

Update: The Transportation Planning Board has chosen 5 of the 10 studied transportation projects as priorities for the coming years. Not among them - the Potomac River Bridge and associated highway through the Reserve, and for good reason. Read on below for our original post diving into the data behind the Bridge's poor showing in comparison to other land use measures that would better reduce traffic congestion with far fewer ill effects and cost to taxpayers. To read a great synopsis on this - see this article from Greater Greater Washington which explains how traffic is more like a gas while these misguided big projects treat it like water. Also - A Wrap up from the TPB  Really worth a read.  Thanks to our partners on both sides of the river and our supporters who wrote in on this issue.  We've called this project the 'Zombie Bridge' so no promises that it won't re-animate from the drawing board in a few years - stay tuned. ​

This afternoon the Kojo Nnamdi show on WAMU took up the topic of the Potomac bridge project.  (click here to listen) In attendance were Bob Buchanan, a developer and member of the 2030 group, one of the main backers of the bridge and Stewart Schwartz from our partner organization Coalition for Smarter Growth. Stewart revealed the lunacy of this project point by point and highlighted the immense personal financial stake Mr. Buchanan and his development partners have in building the sprawl that would come from this boondoggle. 

Right out of the gate, Mr. Buchanan casually brushed aside concerns about the sprawl and detriment to established communities and again cited a poll that has been discredited in the media. The 2030 group had a polling firm call up 800 residents and ask them if the bridge is a good idea - no budget figure, no location - as you might imagine, most traffic weary residents said yes. Stewart Schwartz rightly called the poll's validity into question.  What followed in the time remaining was a chorus of listeners (one being MoCo Council President Berliner who called in) on both sides of the river calling this project into question for its negative impact on communities, water, habitat, agriculture and its efficacy as a traffic solution in the first place. Our friends across the River at Piedmont Environmental Council have prepared a great list of 8 myths used to sell this zombie project yet again.  For those wondering why this project is called the "zombie" bridge and why it gets re-animated so often, this is a great summary. 

The bridge segment today was cut a bit short so the show could properly honor dearly departed DC broadcaster Jim Vance. There is much more discussion to be had  and much, much more work to do. Join us won't you?

Read on for our favorite tweets and observations about the Kojo Show today:

Update (8/28): What are the proposed routes for the highway? There are a whole, whole lot of them:

Update: 
7/19 saw a meeting of the Transportation Planning Board (TBP) of the regional Council of Governments. One of the 10 items being considered for study between now and December when the board will make decisions based on said studies is ----yes --- a re-re-re-study of the Potomac Bridge. Along with our partner Stewart Schwartz from Coalition for Smarter Growth, our own ED Caroline Taylor was there to provide testimony cautioning the board to not look at transportation in a vacuum - this project would impact land use, the Ag Reserve and particularly water resources - the federally designated Piedmont Sole Source Aquifer and the fact that the proposed connection point would be just upstream from the WSSC intake. 

Board member and MoCo Councilmember Elrich attempted to float an amendment to remove the Bridge from the list of other reasonable projects the Board was voting to study - many of them transit oriented and proven to reduce gridlock. The amendment failed to get enough votes, the Bridge will be studied, for the 4th time. To be fair, a number of votes in favor of yet another bridge study are not in favor of the bridge being built. 

The bottom line:  The TBP has only until December to study and report on all of these 10 projects at which time they will vote to move ahead with some of them. We are concerned that there is not enough time to make this a comprehensive study, the kind of solid investigation that has shown time and again that this bridge will not objectively ease, and may even exacerbate current gridlock. See the map below for all the different routes that have been studied over the years. 

There is much work to do on this, we give thanks to those who have written in comments so far. Please sharpen your pencils, stay tuned and if you have not already done so- please become a member of MCA with your tax deductible donation.
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February 2017 Update:
Loudon County has project listed as a legislative priority.
MCA has partners across the river who will fight the project.
We are working to establish strong political and preservation protection against this boondoogle.

Previous Post:
What is it that is said… oh yes, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”  And so it is with the boosters that ascribe global relief from traffic woes to the construction of a Potomac bridge and highway through Montgomery‘s Ag Reserve. More pavement, sprawled from population centers is truly geared to open corridors of farmland and open space to development.  Studies have concluded, time and again, that this proposed boondoggle does nothing to relieve metropolitan Washington gridlock and yet its boosters continue to trumpet it as a priority. 
 
Take note:  MCA and partners will hold fast the line against this boondoogle. And our reasons are sound and compelling.
 
Maryland loses an average of 20,000 acres of farmland annually... 20,000 acres! In Montgomery County, planners and representatives saw this disaster coming and did something proactively in 1980 with the establishment of the Functional Master Plan for the Preservation of Agriculture and Open Space - downzoning and protecting roughly a third of the County, roughly 100,000 acres.
 
 Why? It's really quite simple:

Managed growth vs conventional development (sprawl) = Savings in cost in both human and natural resources. 
 
Taxes and other revenues from residential development do not cover all the public services residents demand. The county needs a balance of land uses, including farms and open space, to reduce overall infrastructure costs and provide sufficient revenue to pay for these services. Otherwise, as more residential development occurs in existing subdivisions, services will be stretched thinner or cut—or property taxes will have to be raised.  Put simply, agricultural land and open space pay more in local tax revenues than they receive back in services.
 
The Reserve provides for local food and fiber production, employing over 10,000 residents, contributing over 300 million dollars to the local economy.
 
Protected open space and well-managed farms provide for clean air shed and high quality water resources.

No shortage of past updates on this issue Click here to read through those. 
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