Stuck in traffic, I scan the blue-gray horizon with its cloud of pollution hanging over the houses and fields, the children in the playgrounds, and the jogger on the sidewalk. It is rush hour in Montgomery County. My fellow commuters and I are trying to safely drive to another day's work but instead, we are waiting in a long creeping line of traffic with engines idling.
I think to myself, "these roads worked well at an earlier time before we had so many new neighbors. The new neighbors will keep arriving -- it is their right -- but our roads have not improved." The traffic light has now changed and I can move another 50 yards.
"So many cars -- if only those people would take Metro or carpool so that I could commute in peace...I really need to get to work. I suppose I could take Metro or carpool...well, no I can't, either I have to work late tonight, or I need to pick the kids up at school, or I have that mid-day meeting in Annapolis.....You know,...it really is time for a new road."
The above is a script from the life of thousands of commuters replayed each day as they grind their way to work on our inadequate highway system.
And you know, a new roadway really is needed. Yes, a new roadway would reduce air pollution because cars would be moving -- not stuck idling. It would allow emergency vehicles to move quickly throughout the county. A new roadway would provide us with an alternative to driving through our residential neighborhoods when accidents shut down the Capital Beltway for hours at a time. A new roadway would allow commuters to get to their jobs on time and improve our quality of life.
And we have the construction techniques and technology to mitigate environmental impacts and create an aesthetically pleasing new road -- it will be costly but we can do it.
Yes, it really is time for a new cross-county connector.
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