Committee backs removing northern M83 from county master plan, adds study language

The Transportation and Environment Committee voted to concur with the Planning Board's recommendation to remove the northern section of the Mid County Highway, often called M83, from the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways.

Council staff summarized the Planning Board finding that the northern segment's planned 5.7-mile extension from Montgomery Village Avenue north and west through Great Seneca Park to Ridge Road (MD 27) in Clarksburg should be removed from the county master plan while retaining the southern portion. "The planning board does recommend the removal of this northern section of Mid County Highway," Council staff said during the presentation of Recommendation 5.a. Staff noted earlier studies and outreach informed that position.

Councilmember Balcom said removing the alignment raises capacity concerns for the Clarksburg-Germantown corridor and proposed an amendment to the plan's recommended study to require that it assess not only whether master-planned improvements could accommodate future demand but also the feasibility and timeline for implementing planned and existing master-plan transportation improvements. Her amendment deleted an explicit fiscal-year deadline after committee members raised logistical and budgetary questions. "We need to look at the feasibility and timeline of implementing planned and existing master plan transportation improvements," Balcom said while offering the amendment.

Planning Board Chair Harris said the board's outreach and environmental considerations informed the recommendation to remove the northern segment while retaining the southern portion and adding study language to address remaining travel needs. Committee leadership called a voice vote and accepted the Planning Board recommendation with the amendment; the transcript records the adoption by voice vote with no roll-call tally recorded.

A staff fiscal-impact statement appended to the packet indicated net savings of about $655 million if the northern portion of M83 is removed; staff also referenced earlier studies that estimated 2015 construction and environmental impacts (for example, a 2015 estimate of $357,000,000 and acres of forest/wetland impacts in that record). The committee noted that right-of-way already includes public and privately owned parcels and that removing the alignment from the Master Plan could open some of that right-of-way up to abandonment, while staff said county interest in preserving corridor right-of-way for a bikeway would remain regardless of the action.

The committee directed staff to coordinate language and logistics with planning and budget staff before the item goes to full council.