WASHINGTON — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is proposing a dramatic $9 billion project to ease traffic congestion that includes adding four new lanes to the Maryland side of the Capital Beltway, Interstate 270 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
The plans also calls for the addition of new express toll lanes on all three of the routes.
The additional lanes on the Beltway would run from the American Legion Bridge to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, according to the proposal Hogan laid out Thursday morning. The four additional lanes on I-270 would run from the Capital Beltway to Frederick. The additional lanes on I-295 would run from Baltimore City to D.C.
“These three massive, unprecedented projects to widen I-495, I-270, and Md. 295 will be absolutely transformative, and they will help Maryland citizens go about their daily lives in a more efficient and safer manner,” Hogan said in a statement.
The governor’s announcement amounts to the first step in what is expected to be a lengthy and contested process.
Hogan said his the project will be managed as a public-private partnership and that private developers would be tasked with designing, building, operating and maintaining the new lanes.
The project needs the required environmental sign-off, and there’s already some dispute about whether Hogan needs approval from the Maryland legislature to move forward.
Building new express toll lanes on the Baltimore Washington Parkway requires the U.S. Interior Department to transfer the parkway land, which the federal government owns, to the Maryland Transportation Authority. Hogan said he recently met with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to “personally” kick-start the process.
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
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