Retain I-270 Exit 17 in the Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan

The Original Vision for Clarksburg

The 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan laid out a bold vision for Clarksburg, the last Corridor City in Montgomery County, to be developed with a thriving new town center at its core, a stone’s throw from its historic district, anchored by a public library, vibrant retail, and open spaces. The town center was to be the centerpiece of the new town, surrounded by history, planned residential communities, amazing parks, special protection areas, a range of well-paying jobs, variety of retail, and most importantly, a balanced and redundant multimodal transportation network to ensure success, quality of life, and access for over 45,000 residents who eventually will call Clarksburg their home and thousands more who pass through Clarksburg daily.

Fast forward to 2025!

Three decades after the adoption of the Clarksburg Master Plan, developed with hours of dedicated work by leaders of the small community of about 2,000 residents who called Clarksburg their home in the early 90s as well as the Clarksburg Civic Association and the Clarksburg Historical Society, the Planning Dept staff, the Planning Board, the County Council, and the County administration are drastically changing Clarksburg for the worse!

The most significant change to the Clarksburg community after planning, approving, and permitting thousands of new homes and moving thousands of new residents into the community has been the dismantling of the multimodal transportation infrastructure that is critical to support the new Corridor City and density planned for Clarksburg. These transportation projects provided Clarksburg and the greater Upcounty area quality of life, redundancy, and access to its neighbors, neighborhoods, trails, parks, community services, jobs, retail, regional transit, and regional highways. Multimodal transportation options that are key to the vitality and viability of Clarksburg have been systematically undercut and underfunded by appointed and elected officials based on misplaced ideology and principles that may work in Bethesda CBD or Silver Spring CBD, but not in Clarksburg, essentially ignoring the demands of local residents and instead, by pandering to special interest groups who have no stake in the Clarksburg community.

The Systemic Dismantling of Transportation Infrastructure

The Demise of the Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT)

The very first major transportation project that met a slow demise was the Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT), a project that was to provide the Metro Red Line extension from Shady Grove to Frederick as a light rail system (which was later changed to articulated buses), connecting communities such as King Farm, Crown, Great Seneca Science Campuses, Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, Kentlands, AstraZeneca, NIST, Metropolitan Grove MARC Station, Germantown Transit Center, Milestone, Clarksburg, and Urbana along its route.

Stalled I-270 Corridor Improvements

The second major transportation project that now appear dead, which took many forms over the years and multiple studies is the I-270 corridor improvements, which in its last iteration incorporated a first-class Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system mimicking elements of CCT, with all day service along I-270/I-495 between Frederick and Tysons Corner with easily accessible bus transfer stations. Unfortunately, the project is on hold, including the project to replace the American Legion Bridge.

Removal of the Midcounty Highway Extension (M-83)

The third critical local transportation project that was recently erased by the Planning staff, Planning Board, the County Council, and the County Executive was the extension of Snowden Farm Parkway between Ridge Road (MD 27) and Montgomery Village Avenue, to connect to Midcounty Highway in Gaithersburg (Midcounty Highway Extension or M-83 project). The Council voted 10-1 to remove this lifeline for Clarksburg residents to Shady Grove Metro Station and the ICC from the Master Planning Highways and Transitways (MPOHT) despite overwhelming community support to retain it.

Delays on the Observation Drive Extension

The fourth major transportation project that has been waiting for County Council funding for decades is the extension of Observation Dr between COMSAT in Clarksburg and the Milestone subdivision in Germantown. This project should have been funded and constructed as soon as the Planning Board and the County Council started approving density in Clarksburg, and is long overdue.

The Uncertain Future of MD 355 BRT

The fifth major transportation project that is still undefined and uncertain is the much trumpeted “magic carpet ride” for Clarksburg residents, the MD 355 BRT project. The irony with this promise for Clarksburg residents is that the “middle section” of the MD 355 BRT between Rockville and Germantown, planned to be built first, is still waiting for close to a billion dollars in funding! In reality, less than 55% of the route will be on dedicated lanes, affecting service performance, with travel between Germantown and Shady Grove estimated to take approximately 33 minutes. It is expected that this segment of the BRT may only open in 2031 (if funding comes thru), and would result in a tiny shift (of about 0.7% ) in total trips along the corridor from cars to buses (Source: 2019 MCDOT Corridor Summary Report). The “middle section” MD 355 BRT is ultimately expected to cost billions of dollars to design and construct, have minimal through ridership, and cost many more millions annually to operate, even before a single BRT ever makes its way past Germantown to Clarksburg.

The Threat to I-270 Exit 17

This significant failure to provide transportation infrastructure to Clarksburg and Upcounty communities has now taken another sinister turn with the Planning Department staff recommendation to remove I-270 Exit 17 in the Public Hearing Draft of the Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan! The staff recommendation defies logic and is yet another slap in the face of residents in Clarksburg in the name of “planning” by a group of individuals who do not live in the Clarksburg community. The Planning Dept staff’s contention that “there is no need for this interchange” is asinine and their acquiescence to the demands of special interest groups to recommend removal of the interchange will significantly damage the successful build-out of the Clarksburg community forever, especially the 200-acre COMSAT site.

Why Exit 17 Matters

Compared to all other failures by the County to deliver much needed transportation infrastructure to Clarksburg, the recommendation to remove I-270 Exit 17 is likely the most significant. I-270 Exit 17 is essential to ensure implementation of a visionary plan and excellent access for the COMSAT site for sorely needed well-paying jobs in Upcounty, a redundant street network for the larger community, and most critically, minimal impact from regional traffic on neighboring communities and local roadways.

Communities at Risk

Removal of Exit 17 will result in thousands of additional new daily trips, increased congestion and pollution, and significant delay to emergency response services on local roads on either side of I-270 between Exits 16 and 18 which otherwise would have been at Exit 17. This recommendation, if adopted, will directly impact communities of Cabin Branch, Creekside, Milestone, Hurley Ridge, Tapestry, Greenridge Acres, Gallery Park, Clarksburg Square, Clarksburg Village, Courts at Clarksburg, Gateway Commons, and Arora Hills.

Public Hearings: Have Your Voice Heard

In order to hear from the community on the broad range of recommendations in the Sector Plan, the Montgomery County Planning Board has scheduled two public hearings on September 25, 2025 (Thursday). The first public hearing will be during the Planning Board’s regular meeting at their Auditorium on the second floor of M-NCPPC Wheaton Headquarters, 2425 Reedie Drive, Wheaton, MD 20902. This hearing will allow for both in-person and online testimony and is estimated to begin at about 12:30 p.m. The second public hearing will be at 6 p.m. at the Upcounty Regional Services Center (Conference Room A, 12900 Middlebrook Lane, Germantown, MD, 20875). This public hearing is hosted locally and will be in-person only.

Call to Action

Clarksburg and Upcounty residents have the power and the opportunity to demand that decision makers listen to Clarksburg residents and to reject Planning Department staff recommendation in the Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan to remove I-270 Exit 17.

Clarksburg Neighbors Alliance (CNA) encourages all Clarksburg and Upcounty residents to:

• send an email to the Planning Board members,

• and attend the second hearing on Thursday, September 25, 2025 at the Upcounty Regional Services Center in Germantown at 6 p.m.

Emails to the Planning Board members can be sent to: MCP-Chair@mncppc-mc.org