{"id":8269,"date":"2017-07-24T07:00:56","date_gmt":"2017-07-24T11:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=8269"},"modified":"2017-07-23T16:25:38","modified_gmt":"2017-07-23T20:25:38","slug":"the-zombie-bridge-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=8269","title":{"rendered":"The Zombie Bridge Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Adam Pagnucco.<\/em><\/p>\n

The long-discussed second bridge across the Potomac may never truly be dead.\u00a0 Dubbed \u201cthe Zombie Bridge\u201d<\/a> by Council President Roger Berliner, the creature will continually claw from the grave as long as its living minions keep trying to shovel it out.\u00a0 And this time, the zombie\u2019s targets will include county candidates for office.<\/p>\n

First, a bit of background.\u00a0 Discussions of a second bridge date back to at least the time of the American Legion Bridge\u2019s construction in 1962<\/a> as part of a possible Outer Beltway<\/a>.\u00a0 Montgomery County and the state even included the second bridge in their master plans until it was removed in 1974<\/a>.\u00a0 Nevertheless, the\u00a0bridge has been examined several times.\u00a0 Twenty years ago, the bridge and its associated roadway was known as \u201cthe Techway\u201d and was the subject of a 2000 federal study requested by Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf<\/a>.\u00a0 Within months, Wolf asked that the study be canceled<\/a> after constituents fearful of property seizures mobilized against it.\u00a0 But the bridge was awakened yet again by a 2004 study of the American Legion Bridge<\/a> which showed some demand among travelers in points west.<\/p>\n

Anyone have any brains in Maryland?<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The bridge\u2019s supporters are clustered in two organizations.\u00a0\u00a0 The first is the 2030 Group<\/a>, an organization of major developers and construction firms<\/a> with property in both Maryland and Virginia.\u00a0 Members of the 2030 Group have significant overlap with the board of the Suburban Maryland Transportation Alliance<\/a>, which also supports the bridge.\u00a0 Advocates for the bridge cite a 2015 poll<\/a> by OpinionWorks of 800 adults in the Washington region that shows substantial support.\u00a0 According to the poll (shown below), 59% of respondents favor the bridge, including 39% who strongly favor it, and 11% oppose it.\u00a0 In Montgomery County, 68% favor (52% strongly) and 12% oppose.\u00a0 The poll does not mention the bridge\u2019s cost (a figure that may not exist in any reliable form yet) or its location.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Opponents, including smart growth groups and environmentalists, point out that the project is not just about the bridge itself but also its connection to the county\u2019s road network.\u00a0 The bridge, proposed to extend north from Route 28 in Virginia, is not supposed to terminate at River Road but is intended to connect northeast to I-370 and the Intercounty Connector.\u00a0 How much is that likely to cost?\u00a0 (The ICC cost $2.4 billion<\/a>.)\u00a0 How much property will have to be seized for its route?\u00a0 (Much of the right of way for the ICC was already in state or county hands as that road had been planned for decades.)\u00a0 Another factor for consideration is that the State of Maryland owns the entire Potomac River between the District and West Virginia.\u00a0 Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe told Bethesda Magazine<\/a>, \u201cI don\u2019t fund bridges that aren\u2019t in our state. It doesn\u2019t touch our border. That\u2019s your simple answer\u2026 I take responsibility for bridges in Virginia.\u201d\u00a0 That leaves Maryland and MoCo to figure out how to pay for any new bridge.<\/p>\n

Connect the red stars.\u00a0 How would you plan a route from a new Potomac bridge to I-370?<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the unanimous opposition of the Montgomery County Council and no apparent support from Maryland Governor Larry Hogan<\/a>, the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board just voted to study a new Potomac bridge<\/a>.\u00a0 That has effectively resuscitated the project, which now shambles from the grave into the 2018 elections.\u00a0 Because it is now under study, it is certain that we have not heard the last word on the bridge until the June primaries.\u00a0 The deep-pocketed real estate and construction interests who support the bridge may fund an advocacy campaign to sway both candidates and voters on its behalf.\u00a0 Meanwhile, environmental and smart growth groups will include questions about the bridge on every questionnaire they send to candidates and will likely consider it a litmus test issue.\u00a0 All of this will squeeze candidates between major progressive organizations and traffic-hostile voters looking for alternatives to I-270 and the Beltway.<\/p>\n

MoCo politicians may try to run, try to hide and cry out for help as they flee from the monster, but it will continue to stalk them no matter how hard they try to escape. \u00a0The Zombie Bridge has returned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Adam Pagnucco. The long-discussed second bridge across the Potomac may never truly be dead.\u00a0 Dubbed \u201cthe Zombie Bridge\u201d by Council President Roger Berliner, the creature will continually claw from the grave as long as its living minions keep trying to shovel it out.\u00a0 And this time, the zombie\u2019s targets will include county candidates for … Continue reading The Zombie Bridge Returns<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[151,38],"tags":[1545,1991,1990],"class_list":["post-8269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adam-pagnucco","category-transportation","tag-adam-pagnucco","tag-potomac-bridge","tag-transportation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4mKJE-29n","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8269"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8275,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8269\/revisions\/8275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}