Legum’s New Line

Maryland I-270, which runs from the Capital Beltway into Frederick County, is one of the most congested traffic corridors in the state. There is now a major push underway to spend about $4 billion to widen the road up to 12 lanes, which would be the most expensive transportation project in Maryland history.

To understand why this proposal would be counterproductive, just go back 10 years. From the January 4, 1999 Washington Post:

Congestion on Interstate 270 had grown so oppressive by the mid-1980s that Montgomery County transportation director Robert S. McGarry pressed the state to widen it six years ahead of schedule. Maryland responded with $200 million to widen more than a dozen miles, up to 12 lanes in some stretches.

But now, less than eight years after the project was finished, the highway has again been reduced to what one official called “a rolling parking lot.” Traffic on some segments already has exceeded the levels projected for 2010…

National transportation analysts say it’s no surprise: Widened highways generate their own traffic. This phenomenon, called “induced travel,” raises urgent questions for the Washington region at a time when area officials are planning to expand other highways and interchanges, such as the Capital Beltway, Interstate 66 and the Springfield interchange.

Although the exact magnitude of this effect is much debated, some studies suggest that induced travel might entirely overwhelm any relief from congestion resulting from new road capacity.

Motorists may decide to make more trips than before, convinced that the wider road will reduce congestion and make each trip quicker. They also may switch from other routes, expecting to save time. And they may abandon mass transit and climb into their cars – all of which put more vehicles on the widened highway.

Now, 10 years later and in the midst of severe budget shortfalls, we are ready to spend billions to make the same mistake again.

The proposal is more than an ineffective use of resources. It would have a seriously detrimental impact on Maryland’s environment, which is why it is opposed by a number of prominent environmental groups.

We need to break through old way of thinking about traffic congestion and look at how we can most effectively and efficiently use resources to ease traffic, including all forms of transit, ride sharing and telecommuting.

We’ll be following the issue closely on Legum’s New Line as the debate over I-270 continues.

[HT to Greater Greater Washington, which has the best and most comprehensive coverage of this topic.]

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I want to share with you a short video from a recent campaign event. I hope it gives you a better sense of who I am, why I’m running and how I intend to conduct my campaign for state delegate in District 30.

Watch it:

Now that you’ve heard a little bit from me, I’d love to hear from you. Over the next 16 months, I want to spend a lot more time listening than talking.

What do you want from your state government? What issues motivate you? What do we need to do to win this campaign?

Please contact me directly at judd@juddlegum.com or 443-510-8880.

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Scott Bowling is a candidate for city council here in Annapolis. Today, someone posing as Scott sent an email to the city clerk asking that he be removed from the ballot. Worse, the email contained derogatory, offensive and personal attacks on Scott.

Scott has responded with a press release:

Earlier today, a fictitious e-mail was sent to City Clerk, Regina Watkins-Eldridge and copied to various media outlets. I want to thank the City Clerk for contacting me immediately to confirm that this e-mail was a malicious hoax. Her prompt and professional attention has precluded the damage that this e-mail intended to create.

The e-mail was created and sent from a free e-mail server by an impostor posing as me (although spelling my name incorrectly twice.) It attempted to indicate my withdrawal from candidacy for Ward 3 Alderman. The e-mail was replete with punctuation, grammar, spelling, and factual errors. It is shameful that someone would endeavor to waste the Clerk’s time with this nonsense…

I am a Democrat and Scott is a Republican. We disagree on many issues. But we do agree that this kind of conduct has no place in city politics.

The city is facing real challenges and the 2009 municipal elections in Annapolis should be decided on who has the ideas, the experience and the vision to meet them.

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In a positive development for Maryland, Baltimore Gas & Electric – the state’s leading energy supplier – proposed a new “smart grid initiative” intended to reduce energy use and lower costs. The Maryland Daily Record has the details:

A Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. smart grid initiative proposed Monday would cost less than building a new power plant, while easing demand on the power grid and saving customers money.

The plan would employ advanced smart meters in 2 million homes and businesses, allowing for a two-way communication network that would relay energy use to the utility, eventually eliminating the need for meter readers and estimated use bills.

Customers would reap savings of about $2.6 billion over the life of the project through a program component called smart energy pricing, BGE said. The company would offer customers rebates for reducing their energy consumption during peak periods, such as very hot summer afternoons, determined by the company to be high demand days.

BGE is asking the Maryland Public Service Commission to recover the cost of the project through a customer surcharge. Savings to consumers, however, would exceed additional costs. In a pilot program last summer, 1000 customers “lowered their power consumption by 26 percent to 37 percent during peak periods, saving an average of $100.”

A recent study by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission found that Maryland has enormous potential to cut peak energy use through proposals like the Smart Grid, known in the industry as “demand response,” because a high number of homes in Maryland have central air.

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A new report by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation reveals that the Bay has become so polluted that swimming in it may be hazardous to your health. From the report:

The combination of warmer waters, nutrient pollution, and other factors in the Chesapeake Bay are contributing to the growth of bacteria called Vibrio that can cause life-threatening skin and blood infections and intestinal illnesses, according to Dr. Rita Colwell, former director of the National Science Foundation and current
Distinguished University Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and University of Maryland, College Park. Although infrequent, the number of annual Vibrio infection cases reported in both Virginia and Maryland has increased in recent years…

Nutrient pollution and warmer weather also stimulate the growth of harmful algal blooms. Blue green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, can cause liver disease, skin rashes, nausea, and vomiting…

During the summer, polluted runoff, animal waste, and sewage often create high bacteria levels at swimming beaches. In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, Pennsylvania had 22 closures at 17 swimming areas last summer; Maryland had 44 no-swimming advisories or closures at 31 beaches during the same period; and Virginia had 10 advisories at 6 beaches. But even these numbers might not reflect the true prevalence of pathogens at beaches, according to a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researcher.

CBF President William C. Baker stressed that the report does not mean that “one should never swim in local rivers or the Bay.”

Nevertheless, the report underscores that if we allow the Bay’s health to continue to deteriorate, a major source of economic activity for the state is likely to suffer. Conversely, if we take the steps necessary to restore the Bay to health, there will be significant long term economic benefit to Maryland in terms of tourism, recreation and related industries.

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When considering a new public policy, we frequently (and correctly) consider the costs. Less frequently, however, do we consider the costs of maintaining the status quo.

Environment Maryland has recently produced a report examining the costs of maintaining Maryland’s reliance on fossil fuels. From the release:

Between 2010 and 2030, Maryland will spend as much as $432.2 billion on oil, coal, and other fossil fuels. That’s 2.6 times the total earnings of all Maryland workers in 2007. At the same time, pollution from fossil fuels is the number one source of air and global warming pollution and a leading source of water pollution.

High spending on fossil fuels is largely driven by our dependence on oil, according to the analysis. Maryland is on track to spend as much as $18.7 billion on oil alone in 2030, 82 percent of the state’s total spending on fossil fuels.

You can read the full report here.

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