Author: <span>IH8Roundabouts</span>

Yes VIRGINIA, There ARE Plans to expand Route 15 In Maryland!

One of the pages out of the playbook that the “special interest no growthers” often turn to is repeatedly stating at public hearings, public assemblies and even writing such dribble in local newspapers’ letters to the editor, is that “Maryland has no intention of doing anything on their side of the Point of Rocks Bridge to widen Route 15!” Well, once again thanks to the tireless efforts of our research team, they have uncovered a 2018 Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) planning document titled “The Highway Needs Inventory (HNI)” that totally dispels one of the most oft repeated false narratives employed by these “special interest no growth” groups.

The MDOT HNI report lists out 18 distinct road projects in Frederick County, Maryland. Of the 18 projects, 11 are top priority AND four of these top priority projects are for expanding Route 15!

We at Fix Route 15 Now strive to bring out the facts and information for residents to consider when seeking answers to their questions about Route 15 North of the Town of Leesburg up to the Maryland state line. There is so much false and misleading information being spread by the “special interest no growth” organizations and elected officials it is often a challenge for residents to separate fact from the false narratives. Fix Route 15 Now has always based our positions on the facts and linked to the source documents backing up those positions.

The MDOT HNI planning document pierces the veil of false and misleading information trumpeted by these groups that Maryland has no plans to fix Route 15! In fact, they are already planning on spending nearly $400 million to do so from the Point of Rocks Bridge (i.e. Potomac River up to Route 340)!

The MDOT HNI is updated every 2 years by the Regional and Intermodal Planning Division, Office of Planning and Preliminary Engineering, within the Maryland Department of Transportation. Please see the full Frederick County Maryland HNI report at https://www.roads.maryland.gov/oppen/hni_Fr.pdf

Below is a table that summarizes the four Route 15 projects that are contained in the above referenced HNI report. The table contains the specific HNI report page #s and map reference #s; the route names and area limits, length, improvement type and estimated costs.

Map Pg #	Map Ref #	Route – Route Name Limits	Length (miles)	Improvement Type	Cost ($Mil.)
8	15	US 15 – Catoctin Mountain Highway Potomac River to US 340	7.2	Freeway reconstruct (includes interchanges and access control improvements)	$368M
8	1	MD 26 – Liberty Road US 15 – (Catoctin Mount. Hwy) to MD 194 (Woodsboro Pike)	2.1	Multi-lane reconstruct, including a grade separation at Monocacy Blvd.	$136M
6	5	US 15 – Jefferson National Pike US 340 West Split to I-70	4.1	Freeway reconstruct with interchanges	$64M
6	6	US 15 – Frederick Freeway US to North of Biggs Ford Rd.40	6.4	Freeway reconstruct with interchanges	$792M

Just like the “special interest no growthers” have falsely stated that Maryland owned the Point of Rocks Bridge, which a concerned citizen debunked by presenting documentation that the bridge is jointly owned by Virginia and Maryland, the MDOT HNI report fully debunks the “special interest no growthers” false claim that “Maryland has no intention of doing anything on their side of the Point of Rocks Bridge to widen Route 15”! For further reference, regarding the POR bridge being jointly owned by Virginia and Maryland, please see the link below from our earlier post about the bridge.

Do You Know Who Owns the Point of Rocks Bridge?

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July 23, 2019

Current Events / Special Interest Groups

Why are these groups still allowed to influence decisions about needed infrastructure?

On August 1, 2017 Supervisor Geary Higgins championed the creation of the Route 15 Stakeholders Committee, which was supposedly intended to bring about true, meaningful improvements to the road between Leesburg and Point of Rocks. Included in this committee of concerned residents were representatives of several of the organizations we have highlighted in the past – the Catoctin Coalition, Journey Through Hallowed Ground, and Lucketts Ruritans among others. They all signed the below document promising to advocate for project success and provide feedback from the organization and people they represent.

https://fixroute15now.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Stakeholder-charter.pdf

As this stakeholder committee met and various public surveys and traffic studies were done, two things became very obvious – widening the road was the only way to handle the traffic volume currently on the road and 80% of the public was in favor of this widening. This is not what these representatives have in mind for us so they decided to actively work against the committee and in some cases attack it and Supervisor Higgins for what amounts to their own failure to communicate to the people they supposedly represent.

Their response to being part of a tiny minority of people wanting the road to stay the same as it is today was to form the Catoctin Route 15 Alliance in the Spring of 2018. Among other goals, the purpose of this new organization was to prevent, “if necessary through legal action” any attempt to 4-lane any portion of the current Route 15 corridor. They were also so proud of their work that they made all their members sign non-disclosure agreements promising to not even disclose their objectives, membership, or operational conduct. You can read their charter and list of members here:

https://fixroute15now.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Catoctin-Route-15-Alliance-NDAs.pdf

Fast forward to today. This group as well as its partner organizations are still being allowed to influence county decision making by submitting irrelevant and non-functional “suggestions” for Route 15 improvements. Two of these proposals are included in the package to be evaluated during the July 18 Board meeting. No other outside organizations are offered this luxury. Why? Why does Supervisor Higgins continue to waste the time of the Board and the lives of the local citizens by delaying real improvements in order to placate this small group of people who have already stated their intentions to prevent any improvements?

Are you tired of your daily life being held hostage by this small group of people? Are you tired of the needless death and destruction caused by an unsafe road that is 300% over capacity? If so, please attend the Board meeting on the 18^th and let YOUR elected representatives know that you’re fed up with what is going on. Support REAL improvements to Route 15 and

FIX ROUTE 15 NOW!!!

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July 17, 2019

Uncategorized

Guerrilla Warfare!

What do the people involved with Friends of Route 15 and its successor organizations have in mind for those opposed to their radical agenda?

As we discussed in the last post, the no-growth special interest groups have played a major role in local politics for decades and have used that influence to prevent all meaningful improvements to the road. We’ll write more on the current political landscape in future segments, but today we want to finish with Friends of Route 15 by publishing the minutes of their meeting and calling out what they have in store for anyone opposed to their agenda. Keep in mind that some of these people are still active in the PEC, JTHG, the Lucketts Ruritans, the Catoctin Coalition, the Catoctin Route 15 Alliance, and other groups with similar missions.

Now let’s see what the juiciest takeaways from this meeting were. Here is a link to the meeting minutes document: https://fixroute15now.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/FOR-15-1986-Guerilla-Warfare.pdf

At the bottom of page 1 and top of page 2, Chairman Henry Brown lays out six principle activities to be undertaken. Activity 6 is the aforementioned historical designation. Activates 1, 3, and 4 are pretty innocuous. However, activities 2 and 5 show the level of desperation and lengths these people are willing to go to in order to achieve their goals.

#2 – “Submit ideas for guerilla warfare against those interested in improving Route 15”

#5 – “Seek a lawyer/lobbyist to act as guerilla warfare “Boss”

These statements mostly speak for themselves, but does this sound like a community outreach group to you or does it seem like the behavior of wannabe mafiosos willing to do just about anything in order to get their way? Should disagreement over infrastructure policy involve hiring lawyers to go after your opponents, their livelihoods, or their families? In a sick sort of way, we guess this group was ahead of its time as this is similar to the behavior we see from social media mobs today.

On a related note, we have noticed the comments on our page attacking us for remaining anonymous. Now everyone knows why we are sticking with that decision. Are these the people you want representing you when it comes to Route 15? Should these groups be consulted by government officials about how to improve the road when they have made it known that they are against all meaningful improvements?

Contact your elected representatives and tell them to stand up to these people and

FIX ROUTE 15 NOW!!!

Next up we will discuss how some members of the Route 15 Stakeholders Committee violated their oath and acted to subvert the outcome through non-disclosure agreements and the formation of the shadow group Catoctin Route 15 Alliance.

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June 6, 2019

Uncategorized

Shadow Groups Part 1

The concerned citizens here at Fix Route 15 Now have been holding some special documents in our back pocket, waiting for the right time to unveil them. In advance of the next BOS meeting, where once again improvements to Route 15 will be on the docket, it’s time to let the wider community see who is behind blocking said improvements and what these people really stand for, in their own words. Welcome to our multi-part series on the incestuous and radical relationships between various special interest groups, their members, and local government officials.

First, a little history. For more than 30 years, various special interest groups, usually consisting of the same small group of people and their spouses and/or relatives, have been formed specifically to block improvements to Route 15. We talked about a few of them in previous posts:

Who Really Represents the Community?

Journey Through Hallowed Ground (JTHG) – Access, Influence & Money

Who is the Catoctin Coalition?

However, we specifically left two of them out in anticipation of publishing this article at a later date. The first, ironically named Friends of Route 15, was the original no-growther group working against Route 15 improvements and was founded back in the mid-1980’s. This group’s members, many of whom are still alive and speaking out against improvements as part of the various other current groups mentioned above, held a meeting on June 25, 1986 and kept some very interesting minutes which we would now like to share with the community. The full document will be published with our next bombshell installment, but for your reading pleasure, here is a taste of what is in this juicy file.

How did the Route 15 corridor nearly become a Historical District against the will of local residents?

Friends of Route 15 was the first group to push for this bogus historical designation. They did this specifically to block any future improvements to the road. Ironically, in such a “historic” area, they limited their initial idea to the road itself and everything within 500 feet of it. We guess the history of the area must have all occurred within 500 feet of the current road. What an amazing coincidence. Out of this meeting, Mr. Powell Harrison was tasked with beginning the push for the historical designation. Mr. Harrison also happens to be the founder of the Piedmont Environmental Council. Once again, as we’ve shown in past posts, these groups are all interconnected in both membership and mission.

Fast forward two years. On December 29, 1988 a story written by Mr. Steve Bates appeared in the local paper entitled “Proposal for Historic District meets resistance in Loudoun”.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1988/12/29/proposal-for-historic-district-meets-resistance-in-loudoun/dcd1e49f-dcd0-4a50-8761-57b031580eb3/

The gist of the story is that the Friends of Route 15 group, against the will of most local landowners, pushed for this historic overlay designation behind the scenes and in secret. Only when it was about to be approved did local residents figure out what was happening and succeeded in achieving a last-minute block of the decision. Now, you may be asking yourself – how did such a proposal get past local government representatives without so much as a whimper of outreach until it was nearly too late? Well, it just so happens that the chairman of Friends of Route 15 was Mr. Henry Brown. Mr. Brown was married to former Catoctin District Representative Betsey Brown(D). Ms. Brown is quoted in the article as saying “there has been no request for the board to consider”. Now, this is definitely a politician’s response since she must have known that the organization she was a member of and that her husband was chairman of was working behind the scenes to do that very thing.

After this defeat the group shifted it’s focus to the much easier obtained “National Scenic Byway” designation and then later pushed for the “Limestone Overlay District” which together in the end achieved the similar result of blocking improvements. In addition, this group and its successors are also behind the “2-lane rural road” designation which further impedes safety improvements like widening and adding wide paved shoulders.

Keep an eye out for our next segment when we show what this group had planned for anyone who dared to speak out in favor of improvements to Route 15. Hint – It isn’t pretty.

FIX ROUTE 15 NOW!!

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June 4, 2019

Uncategorized

Thursday Humor

Just a little Thursday afternoon traffic humor to enjoy on your drive home while you’re parked on Route 15.

https://local.theonion.com/every-driver-in-roundabout-just-winging-it-1827804131

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January 3, 2019

Meeting Event

November CTB Meeting

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!!!

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December 12, 2018

Current Events

The Rural Summit – To Be or Not To Be?

On Friday, November 16, 2018. Loudoun County Chair Phyliss Randall will be conducting an all-day event billed as the Rural Summit at the Salamander Resort and Spa in Middleburg – the first rural summit since taking office January 1, 2016 with the new Board.

But this summit is not sitting well with the “Western” Supervisors Geary Higgins (Catoctin District) and Tony Buffington (Blue Ridge District).

“In the past two terms, my office in conjunction with the Blue Ridge office has sponsored three rural summits, and at each one of those summits we invited the chair or chairwoman to participate and speak at those rural summits,” Higgins said.

Higgins goes on to state that he was concerned that he and Buffington were invited to attend, but not participate. And, he pointed out, the person emceeing the event, Tia Walbridge, has declared she will run against Buffington in the 2019 election. NOTE: (After creation of this story, Ms. Walbridge announced her decision not to attend the event)

“It does appear, unfortunately, to have become a political event, and I think it’s unfortunate, because we’re missing a real opportunity where we could have made progress on some of these issues in western Loudoun County,” Buffington said.

The Rural Summit is also being organized using Randall’s office budget, which Higgins said may be an ethics violation.

So, what is actually happening here? Is it petty whining by the Western Supervisors, who have not held any rural summits this term? Will Supervisors Higgins and Buffington be taking some decisive action or are they merely going to continue to criticize others who are trying to get something done? How can they both criticize Chair Randall without putting forward an alternative proposal for the Rural Summit? Is this just another example of local resistance by two supervisors who are just not equipped to conduct county business in a timely manner because of the demands of their outside employment which is hindering their ability to represent their rural constituents?

It seems to us that maybe Chair Randall is tired of waiting for Supervisor Higgins to take action on the myriad of projects he seems to start but never follow up on. Whether you agree with the summit or not at least Randall is making an effort to do “something” for her constituents unlike Higgins who has let the Route 15 project drag on and on with no BEGINNING in sight. 5 months after funding approval and STILL no project plan from his office, yet he seems to have plenty of time to play political games with other supervisors who have been supportive of 15 improvements!

The Rural Summit will be addressing schools and transportation – in addition to the property rights of the farming community. Why are these two supervisors not dealing with these pressing issues on their own rather than casting stones at Chair Randall who has initiated this summit?

Make no mistake, the continued delay of the start of the Route 15 widening project is a calculated decision by Supervisor Higgins who believes that if he delays long enough the community will forget about the whole thing and he can blame outside forces for losing the NVTA money which will be reallocated to other projects if not utilized here. It seems other Supervisors have finally caught on to his game and are taking matters into their own hands. Unfortunately, only Supervisor Higgins can move Route 15 improvements forward by producing a project plan. We urge you to contact his office and demand that he do so immediately.

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November 15, 2018

Current Events

County Transportation Infrastructure Improvements

Infrastructure improvements require planning, budgeting, execution, timeliness, and leadership.

Planning is the process of spending limited financial resources over time based on priorities and with an eye to the future of our county. So far, the Route 15 widening project has had 18 months of planning and 20+ years of studies. Yet according to Supervisor Higgins, it is not yet time to ask County Staff to put together a project plan to move the work forward. He is still stuck in “community outreach” mode.

Budgeting is the process of allocating those limited resources towards projects that “leadership” views as a priority for our county. By continuing to drag his feet on moving the project forward, Supervisor Higgins is risking the NVTA reallocating funds currently designated to Route 15 towards other projects with more concrete plans and timelines. If our project is not moved forward, the money will find a project that IS ready. This has been part of the special interests’ game plan for years – prevent money being allocated by demanding continuous studies.

Executing is the process of aligning the plan and the budget to acquire, expand and enhance an infrastructure project. We have the money. We have approval from the Board of Supervisors. The only thing we don’t have at this point, is execution on the part of Supervisor Higgins to move the project on to the execution phase.

Timeliness is having a “sense of urgency” to address a rapidly deteriorating situation. We at FixRoute15Now.com do not expect to have bulldozers on the road just weeks after project green lighting. However, after NVTA funding was approved in June, a Supervisor with a sense of urgency would have been moving forward with creating a robust project plan in anticipation of the project being approved. Such a Supervisor would most certainly have such a plan ready at the next Stakeholders meeting on October 22. We shall see if Supervisor Higgins has such a sense of urgency or if he just wants to continue to talk while accomplishing nothing.

Leadership is having the courage to stand up for what is right and saying “NO MORE” to the special interest no growth groups who have blocked and delayed safety improvements along Route 15 for decades. Failing to protect our residents, families, and children by continuing to have “public input sessions” or by considering deferring this project back to the Transportation and Land Use Committee (TLUC), as Supervisor Higgins has recently suggested, is not “leadership” – it is just an excuse to avoid making hard decisions.

We urge anyone who desires Route 15 to be fixed to contact Supervisor Higgins and demand that he move this project forward. Demand that he instruct County Staff to create a project plan with an expedited timeline. NOT 10 YEARS!! Do not think that this project is a done deal or relax your vigilance. The special interests are not stopping their campaign, and neither should we. Keep in mind that by doing nothing and continuing to play public perception games rather than moving forward to design and execution, Supervisor Higgins is risking losing the funding for the project.

FIX ROUTE 15 NOW!!!

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October 17, 2018

Special Interest Groups

The Special Interest No Growthers Obstructionist Playbook & Tactics

Delay, attack, mislead, malign, misinformation, block, deflection and denial. Those are the key components for the Special Interest No Growthers Obstructionist Playbook!

Special Interest “no growther” groups delay any meaningful road safety improvements by requesting more data and studies be conducted and insist on adherence to their own corridor management plan that advocates for “trees over peoples safety”.

Special Interest “no growther” groups attack individuals, and often the attack is of a personal nature, who are opposed to their position.

Special Interest “no growther” groups mislead the public by submitting one flowery article after another (and always lacking substance and fact) to the local newspapers about how the bucolic countryside will be “lost forever” while conveniently ignoring the horrendous loss of life and injuries.

Special Interest “no growther” groups make repeatedly false and maligning statements against all elected officials, organizations, and individuals in opposition to their point of view.

Special Interest “no growther” groups bombard elected and appointed officials with voluminous amounts of misinformation as a tactic to prevent any plans from taking shape to widen or add median strips and paved shoulders for safety.

Special Interest “no growther” groups block progress by scheduling repeated meetings with elected and government officials and managers and take up all of the “limited” speaking slots at public hearings to prevent voices with differing opinions from being heard.

Special Interest “no growther” groups use deflection as a tactic to “talk around” any data and facts that are presented which shred their arguments.

And finally, special Interest “no growther” groups use denial as a tactic by masquerading around as collaborative participants while all along plotting behind the scenes to deny any and all meaningful safety solutions that involve the widening of Route 15.

Special Interest “no growther” groups do not care about the safety and lives of the residents and schoolchildren along the Route 15 corridor and Supervisor Geary Higgins has yet to announce a start date with a project plan to have 4-lane widening, centerline median strips and paved shoulders put in place to protect us.

Perhaps Supervisor Higgins has another agenda other than the safety of the residents and schoolchildren and that is why there is no start date for this project that already has all of the necessary funding approved.

Perhaps Supervisor Higgins is playing politics to start this project a year from now when he is up for re-election.

Our lives and our children’s lives should not be used as pawns in an election scheme and Supervisor Higgins should be ashamed of this tactic.

Supervisor Higgins Should Fix Route 15 Now!!!!!

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October 11, 2018

Meeting Event

Mere Words and NO Start Date

Last night Supervisor Higgins sent out an email titled “Route 15 Improvements from Leesburg to Montresor Road Approved”. Higgins goes on to state “after many years of work, I am pleased to inform you that improvements are finally coming to Route 15.” This statement was in alignment with other words oft repeated by Supervisor Higgins to include “we are making tremendous progress…”, “improvements are coming….”, “there has never been any other project with this much community outreach in the history of the county…”.

What we have on display are mere words and NO progress other than stating the 3.5 mile widening from Battlefield Parkway up to Montresor Road will be completed within 10 years!

Supervisor Higgins has not disclosed when the project will begin nor has he been demanding county staff to produce a project plan with a start date!

The residents, families and school children are more deserving than mere words without any substance behind them and our elected officials must be held accountable! There needs to be accountability AND action from our elected officials.

Please attend tonight’s community open house about the Route 15 Safety and Operational Study scheduled for Wednesday, September 26, 2018, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Lucketts Community Center, 42361 Lucketts Road. Let YOUR representatives know how you feel about the current timeline!

FIX ROUTE 15 NOW!!!

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September 26, 2018

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