According to this Gazette article the Metro will never come to Frederick.
James A. Gugel, chief planner with the Frederick County Planning Division, said this week that Metro will never extend so far north because of the topography of the land along Interstate 270 would make such a project too expensive.
Alright maybe I can accept that, I hope they get the metro as far north (Clarksburg maybe?) as possible though. Even that would help traffic on 270. But this next little bit of info is what really burned me up.
For residents hoping to ease their commute, county officials contend it is fruitless to bet on Metro. Add to the mix a bill this legislative session by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Bay to increase the state gasoline tax from 23.5 cents to 35.5 cents per gallon, and the future for commuters looks bleak.
Money from the tax is expected to bring in between $400 million and $600 million for transportation improvements outside Frederick County.
On Tuesday, Jenkins told Sen. David R. Brinkley (R-Dist. 4) of New Market and Del. Richard B. Weldon Jr. (R-Dist. 3B) of Brunswick that he has no intention of remaining quiet on the issue of the gasoline tax, since none of the money is slated for Frederick.
Hey TVMM Jr., lets just say I don’t really like your plan to much. If your going to gouge all of is with your crappy gas tax then we should all see the benefit. That cash should be spread around the state. We are all hurting when it comes to transportation woes.
So what do we get?
Under the Corridor Cities Transitway is a new bus service, or what transportation officials call ‘‘Bus Rapid Transit.” A separate road would be built for special buses that would travel along the same alignment as the MARC train, from Frederick to Shady Grove. The road would only allow buses. Jenkins said increasing MARC service is not in the plans. CSX, which owns the tracks, would have to make the decision to offer more service. The county has not discussed this option with CSX, he said.
This sounds good, but of course there will probably be about a hundred more studies before work on it ever begins. Maybe my kid can ride it to work when he grows up.
Public transportation has to be improved though. I road the MTA Commuter Bus from the Monocacy Marc Station to the Shady Grove Metro station a couple times last week. It was less stressful, but it took me much longer to get to and from work. I had to leave my house at 6AM to make sure I got to work by 7:30AM. Mostly because I have to catch a MoCo Ride-On bus once I get to Shady Grove.
The ride home was even longer and I got home about 45 minutes later than usual. The bottom line is that any bus service is subject to the same traffic as car commuters and only HOV lanes all the way from Frederick to MoCo and vice versa would help. Unless they build this bus only road, but I’m not holding my breath.
~Guy~
15 responses so far ↓
gotbob // May 27, 2007 at 11:58 pm
One of the reasons, I went into real estate and left my previous job…to stay away from 270!!! A third lane would definitely help…look at 70 into Baltimore…Until you get to rt 29…it’s smooth sailing. 270 needs to be addressed!!! I am glad to see we are getting some of the gas tax (sarcasm intended!)
Jim Eaton // May 28, 2007 at 11:06 am
If the metro could at least come to Clarksburg that would be a significant improvement. My guess is that given MoCo has 5x FredCo’s population and far greater tax base, realistically we shouldn’t expect efforts beyond Clarksburg until FredCo’s population catches up, like in Loudoun. The 270 issue is mind-numbing . . . 70 is 6 lanes out of Frederick to 29, while 270 is only 4 lanes until Clarksburg . . . yet 270 carries much more traffic, and represents the region’s future. Whoever the planners are need to start thinking with vision.
knitplaywithfire // May 28, 2007 at 11:37 am
They have never traveled 270 obviously much less any of the new improved state roads. And I am sorry that they are planning on increasing the gas tax. We already pay a high rate. My question is where is the money going to now? It is not spent back in the counties where it comes from. Tele-commuting is something that needs to be promoted to help with the traffic.
And as to widening roads, take a look at 26 and 194. The widened them but not all the way and traffic backs up big time. They are widening 355 going into Frederick but again once you hit the city proper, it is back to 2 lanes. All they are going to do is piss people off and they will be out of office and the problem will still be there.
Sarah // May 28, 2007 at 10:14 pm
I don’t think that widening the road is a good idea. We’ll widen it, it’ll become crowded, we’ll widen it again, that’ll become crowded… you get the picture.
I like the idea of telecommuting, too. Or perhaps some big firms in MoCo and the District could offer a small Frederick campus. Marriott Int’l does that. They have the main headquarters in Bethesda, a campus at Rio and a small computer division here in Frederick. Plus, tons of people telecommute. We have the technology, let’s use it!
The Dude // May 28, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Even if Metro did come to Frederick County — let’s say in the year 2030 — it still has to be financially viable. That means riders in Frederick County could count on maybe 5 to 7 Metro stops in Frederick County alone, plus possibly another 5+ stops in northern Montgomery County. So, a ride to Union Station in DC might take 2 hours, and entail some 30+ stops. Another consideration: commuting patterns change over time.
Far more affordable would be to start a massive fleet of express buses, give the okay to a huge toll road, and financial incentives to companies that encourage telecommuting.
Kevin // May 29, 2007 at 9:41 am
There are already financial incentives for companies that encourage telecommuting, and a smart planner will have a certain number of express trains mixed with local trains so that there would be a couple of trains during rush hour that wouldn’t stop anywhere except in Frederick County, and maybe certain select stops south. That’s how it works in counties north of NYC.
Unfortunately it doesn’t look like there’s a smart planner involved in figuring out how to alleviate the traffic issues in the area…I’ve had a previous rant about it here a couple of months ago, so I won’t rehash right now, but I do have to say that this is getting ridiculous - I moved here almost four years ago and traffic is noticeably worse now then when I got here. Ugh.
Jim Eaton // May 29, 2007 at 9:43 am
The other piece in the mix is the rising price of gas. Is the tipping-point for Americans $4/gallon? $5? When we lived in Germany, it only took a few $100 fill-ups to change our lifestyle . . .
Still, we love our cars and love our freedom here. I think widening 270 one lane each-way and straightening some of the curves would help those who must commute–even if only to northern MoCo–while still preserving lots of green space. Sarah’s campus idea is a great one, I think, as is telecommuting . . . but we’ll never totally do away with people connections, so we’ve got to move forward with several ideas at once, IMHO.
Darrell Russ // May 29, 2007 at 9:45 am
Something has to be done. The bus thing sounds completely fruitless. If they are going to build a road for that, why not just wident the road? The light rail is the way to go. They already own the land. Get it started NOW!!!!!! I will be dead by the time these fools get around to finishing up all of the needless studies and sending all of the money that could go towards construction.
The Dude // May 29, 2007 at 1:45 pm
How can an express train system work, if the system currently has only one in-bound track? An express train can’t run any faster than the slow-poke, stop-at-every-station train ahead of it, and adding a third line would work only until it arrives at the Shady Grove station. Southward beyond that, it’s only one rail each direction. Besides, express trains that bypass MontCo aren’t going to win the support of that county’s political leadership.
Buses make sense because they can flex with shifting transportation patterns, don’t require billions of dollars of capital outlays (and years of attendant studies), and can utilize existing/proposed HOV lanes.
The Dude // May 29, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Make that: “Southward beyond that, it’s only one set of tracks (not “one rail”
each direction.”
Kevin // May 29, 2007 at 3:12 pm
It’s in how you schedule the trains, because the local and the express trains share tracks in NY, they just do a better job scheduling than what we even have on the spur here.
Kevin // May 29, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Every major metropolitan area I have lived in until here (Philadelphia, Boston, NY) has been able to schedule that successfully. I don’t understand why it can’t be done here…heck, even if they did it on the track in Brunswick or Point of Rocks, that would help.
Jim Eaton // May 29, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Exactly. The problem here is that too often things are presented as an either/or (either we widen the roads and have a vast parking lot, or we don’t and keep a pristine life) . . . instead of a both/and. We can widen a few roads, expand our public transportation, and maintain a high-quality life.
TheShortFatKid // May 30, 2007 at 7:04 am
I agree, there is no one solution to the gridlock we face. We need to improve roads, improve public transportation, get companies to offer flex scheduls, telecomuting, and off site work centers; plus we need smarter growth. If we do all that. Then maybe, just maybe we will see some change.
William // May 12, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Maybe they could take sometime to look at the difference’s between Metro north (train system that runs out of New York City, covering Weschester County into CT). Having used Metro North to get in and out of New York City (which is just a bit bigger than DC)it takes me completly by surprise that the state wouldn’t do what needed to be done to help with transportation. Is that or is that not what we elect these people for, if they don’t look to future and how to improve the lives of those citizens the claim to represent, I would suggest getting some votes to remove them and put some forward thinkers in place.
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