Washington, D.C.’s regional planning board has restored Maryland’s $11-billion express lanes for the Capital Beltway/Interstate-270 highway connector to its list of long-term transportation projects, following a month of active lobbying by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and other project supporters.
The July 21 decision by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Transportation Planning Board reverses its June 16 vote to drop the project from a region-wide air-quality analysis for planned major transportation projects, a prerequisite for federal environmental approval.