On Wednesday November 28, 2018 the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) held a public meeting to discuss the future of Route 15. Part of this discussion involved public input on the potential for over $110 million dollars to be allocated to Route 15 improvements north of Montresor Road. Most of the public was unaware that this meeting was taking place due to Supervisor Higgins’s office making the outrageous decision to send out a general notice less than 24 hours beforehand. However, the no-growther groups that oppose improving Route 15 were informed much earlier, seem to have nothing better to do, and therefore were the main voices heard at the meeting despite public opinion polls showing more than 80% in favor of expanding the road. They argued at the meeting that residents were not involved and that the money is not needed which are complete lies. Only a few voices were able speak in favor of the funding, likely due to the late notice.
The lack of ability for normal citizens to show up to all these events due to family and work obligations is why we have elected officials to handle government business on our behalf. However, despite the overwhelming majority of his constituents demanding a realistic fix to this road, Supervisor Higgins did not even bother to show up to this meeting to speak on behalf of his district. On top of this, it has been six (6) months since funding was approved for widening Route 15 up to Montresor Road and Supervisor Higgins has STILL not submitted a project plan nor done anything to accelerate the project. It is in limbo until he gets off his rear end and actually does something other than talk. We find this to be a severe case of dereliction of duty and question why Supervisor Higgins does not just resign his position if he cannot do very basic steps to move projects forward or even bother to show up at meetings he feels are important enough to send public notices about. His continued delays with moving Route 15 forward are very purposeful and against the wishes of his constituency. If he cannot do his job, it is time for someone else to take over.
In addition, Supervisor Higgins failure to show up and advocate for funding of $110M for the widening and safety improvements from Montresor Road up to the Point of Rocks may send the wrong message to the Commonwealth Transportation Board Commissioners that this is NOT a priority since Supervisor Higgins was nowhere to be seen nor heard.
The CTB is taking public comments via email through December 13. Please take 5 minutes of your time and write to [email protected]. Let them know that you support improvements to Route 15 and want these improvements to happen ASAP.
Also, Supervisor Higgins can be reached at [email protected]. Let him know how you feel about his continued dereliction of duty, lack of leadership, and failure to put forward a project plan while sitting on $79M in approved funding..
We’ll see if he bothers to read and answer your email.
FIX ROUTE 15 NOW!!!