Although the M83 project is not an active project, it still remains in the County’s Master Plan of Highways and Transitways. It is urgent that this technical amendment is removed by the Planning Department. As long as the proposed highway remains in master plans it can be built at any time.
The climate crisis is an emergency which deserves our highest priority. The transportation sector is the single largest contributor of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Hybrid and electric vehicles are part of the solution, but this alone will not be near enough. We must also reduce the Vehicles Miles Traveled, and that means we must cancel planned highways like M83 and invest instead in rapid transit and walkable communities for people of all abilities and income levels. In addition, highways such as M83 involve extensive removal of carbon-sequestering trees and forests, which is counter-productive and harmful in a number of ways.
The proposed M83 Midcounty Highway Extended is a planned 5 mile highway which does not now exist. It is a relic of a fossil-fueled car-centric past we must leave behind. Proposed M83 highway would destroy or degrade forests, streams and wetlands in Germantown, Gaithersburg and Montgomery Village. It would cause severe fragmentation of valuable wildlife habitat, and damage five popular public parks, 100 acres of bio-diverse interior forest, and the Seneca Creek Greenway Trail.
The proposed M83 highway would also bisect three upcounty communities which are Equity Focus Areas, with diverse, lower income populations who depend a lot on public transit. These communities also depend on the public green spaces for clean air, peace and quiet, and walks in nature. The people here would suffer disproportionately from the noise of M83 construction and the toxic air pollution from diesel and gasoline exhaust. They may suffer even more from the loss of the forest cover we need to cool our cities as climate change makes them hotter. There are better ways to meet the transportation needs of upcounty communities and promote the shift away from cars to a system centered on people. These include, improved Ride-On bus service, Bus Rapid Transit on Route 355, enhancing use of existing roadways, extending the Red Line Metrorail to Germantown, expanding service on the (MARC) Brunswick Line, and increasing affordable housing in neighborhoods served by rapid transit.
The time is now for the Montgomery County Council to remove proposed M83 from the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways.
