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Board of Public Works Votes to Advance Transformative Traffic Relief Plan

January 8th, 2020 by WCBC Radio

The Maryland Board of Public Works (BPW) today voted to advance the transformative Traffic Relief Plan to ease traffic congestion for hundreds of thousands of commuters every day, and dramatically improve quality of life in the Washington Capital Region region for decades to come. The Board approved amendments to the conditional Public-Private Partnership (P3) designation for the plan, including implementing Maryland and Virginia’s historic ‘Capital Beltway Accord’ to build a new American Legion Bridge.

"I'm so pleased that we are here today to advance our transformative traffic relief plan which will finally address the second-worst traffic congestion in America and begin to solve what has been the number one problem in the Washington Capital Region for decades," said Governor Hogan. "With this vote, we will be moving forward on a bipartisan, common sense interstate agreement that has eluded elected leaders throughout the region for many decades."

The Washington Capital Region has the second-worst traffic congestion in the United States. Congestion increasingly limits the economic growth and competitiveness of the region—particularly along these vital corridors—and diminishes our quality of life. Left unaddressed, the amount of time that area commuters will spend sitting in traffic would increase by 74 percent by 2040. Moreover, Maryland faces a looming estimated $1.7 billion in unfunded system preservation and improvements for these corridors.

“At a time when many of America’s roads and bridges are crumbling, and at a time of divisiveness and dysfunction in our politics today, this project is a testament to the balanced, all-inclusive approach Maryland is taking to improving and modernizing our infrastructure,” said Governor Hogan. “This is truly a monumental and historic achievement, not just for Maryland but for the entire Capital Region. I think it is very fitting that on this first day of the legislative session, we are beginning by advancing a major, bipartisan, common sense agreement that will dramatically improve the quality of life every single day for hundreds of thousands of area residents and commuters for decades to come.”

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