Express lanes on I-270, faster internet speeds and an online system for completing regular permitting tasks are among the proposals county executive candidate Doug Duncan’s campaign unveiled Sunday in a “Leadership In Action” plan.
Duncan, who served as county executive for three terms from 1994-2006, released the plan during a candidate forum Sunday in Silver Spring.
Duncan, incumbent Isiah Leggett and Councilmember Phil Andrews had some testy exchanges regarding the completion of the Silver Spring Transit Center, school maintenance of effort funding and the limits of binding arbitration with the county’s employee unions.
Duncan’s campaign was busy promoting his 31-page “leadership agenda,” a mix of broad policy goals, biographical facts, criticisms of Leggett’s administration and some specific policy proposals.
Most of those specifics are in the “Infrastructure” section of the document and include a proposal to build multi-modal express lanes in an effort to relieve traffic on I-270. The express lanes would be similar to Virginia’s Beltway HOT lanes, which opened in 2012.
Duncan said he would add lanes to I-270 by seeking a public private partnership. Presumably, those driving alone would have to pay tolls, as is the case on the Virginia section of the Beltway.
Duncan also proposed to achieve gigabit internet speeds, or speeds 100 times faster than the average internet speed. It’s a concept other cities have implemented and one Duncan said will benefit county residents “and the competitiveness of its businesses.”
Duncan vowed to complete a comprehensive bike transportation system that would mean completing the Metropolitan Branch Trail, ICC bike facilities “and remaking the roads in Bethesda, Friendship Heights, Silver Spring and Takoma Park.”
Duncan apparently is also unimpressed with Leggett’s backing of an open data program that has won rave reviews, especially compared to other county governments.
“One Click Montgomery,” as described by Duncan, would allow residents and businesses to access and download their personal information that is on file from the county. The concept would be to allow businesses to submit or view permits online to “cut through the red tape that can be arduous and be a high barrier to entry.”
The plan also proposes a new Montgomery County website:
Montgomery County needs to redesign its website so that it is user-friendly to its residents and businesses. We can achieve user-friendliness by vastly enhancing the user interface to ensure that anyone who comes to our site can quickly and easily navigate it to find the information they need. In a world today where technology plays such a large part in our effectiveness to serve the public, Montgomery County’s presence online matters as much as our interaction with our residents in person. We can and will do a much better job.
