SPI Insights

Maryland – Gov. Larry Hogan’s pursuit of a public-private partnership (P3) to deliver a new, wider American Legion Bridge and new high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes on the Capital Beltway secured a critical vote from a regional transportation board on July 21.

The Transportation Planning Board of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments advanced the Traffic Relief Plan and Capital Beltway Accord. Its members had previously excluded the I-270/I-495 Capital Beltway project from consideration.

Under the new Recommended Preferred Alternative (RPA) recently identified by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA), for the Managed Lanes Study focuses solely on building a new American Legion Bridge and delivering two HOT lanes in each direction on Interstate 270 to Interstate 370.

This alternative would deliver the new bridge as the primary link between key economic centers in Maryland and Virginia and would add a bicycle and pedestrian connection.

Existing general-purpose travel lanes throughout the corridor will be retained and will remain free for use by all motorists. Drivers with less than three occupants in the vehicle would only pay if they were to choose to use the HOT lanes that would allow carpools, vanpools and other vehicles carrying three or more people to travel in the new HOT lanes free of charge any time of day. Buses and motorcycles would be granted free passage on the new HOT lanes.