Occasionally liberal agendas conflict with one another. The Washington Post exposed the challenge of promoting infrastructure spending and appeasing environmentalists in a recent story about Washington, D.C. gridlock.
The liberal media generally support both climate alarmism and opposition to fossil fuels, as well as calls for greater infrastructure spending on “roads and bridges.”
The Post reported on the differences between plans to solve gridlock in Northern Virginia and Maryland. Northern Virginia “built 87 miles of tolled express lanes” in the past four years, and has 114 more miles in the works. Post columnist Robert McCartney noted Maryland’s traffic problems remain because of government officials who are afraid of environmentalists or who want worse traffic.
Maryland has only focused on updating its transit system, to the chagrin of many commuters. McCartney reported that some officials are reluctant to build roads “because they fear a backlash from environmentalists and other road skeptics” who oppose building roads.
McCartney turned to Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn who accused local officials in Montgomery and Prince George counties of “listing transit projects as higher priorities for state spending than highway expansion” in order to make traffic worse and discourage driving.
Rahn mentioned that in 2009, Montgomery planning director Rollin Stanley said, “Traffic jams are good,” and they encourage people “to think about alternative transit, like biking, walking or mass transit.”
Vice Chairman of the Suburban Maryland Transportation Alliance Richard Parsons said “transit advocates and environmentalists” exercised great influence during local Democratic primaries. He also asserted there were “groups whose only purpose is to defeat road projects.”
According to McCartney, traffic is so bad now that Democratic Maryland Rep. John Delaney said Marylanders should be “embarrassed” by the situation. He is working with businesses and road advocates to form a “campaign” to expand I-270 and the American Legion Bridge.
