Under Gov. Wes Moore’s (D) new administration, the Interstate 270 and Capital Beltway expansion project, dubbed Op Lanes Maryland, will continue to be planned for the region. The project, a priority of former Gov. Larry Hogan (R), focuses on improving traffic congestion and delivering a new American Legion Bridge.
This comes as environmental and historic preservation groups–the Maryland chapter of the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Friends of Moses Hall and the National Trust for Historic Preservation–continue to challenge the expansion of I-270 and Beltway with a lawsuit originally filed in October 2022.
On June 16, the groups filed a motion for summary judgement, which asks the judge to decide the case in their favor without going to trial.
The lawsuit argues that the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) failed to adequately assess and disclose the expansion project’s impact on the environment, the biological research hub Plummers Island and a historic African American burial ground in Cabin John, adjacent to the Beltway.
Original lawsuit filings argue that expanding I-270 and the Beltway (I-495) would cause significant harm to public health, natural resources and culturally significant and historic places in the county.
According to a press release from the group, the filings say the agencies “had to first take a close look at the harms the project would cause, and the alternatives to it. And they owed the public a candid assessment of the damage from this multi-billion-dollar project before approving it. They failed on both counts.”
Carter Elliott IV, press secretary to Gov. Moore wrote in a statement to MoCo360, “Governor Moore knows Maryland faces incredibly important transportation decisions in the coming years, and he’s committed to easing congestion and providing more travel options that serve everyone.”
Moore’s first priority is to review the project through the “lens of equity, sustainability, environmental protection and environmental justice,” Elliott said.
Terry Owens, a MDOT spokesperson told MoCo360 in a statement, the agency is “continuing design and permitting activities; field work and data collection; and developing funding options and procurement approaches … including seeking federal grants.”
On March 9, Australian-based company Transurban, which was the lead partner on the project with Accelerate Maryland Partners, terminated its public-private partnership agreement with MDOT and the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA). Transurban backed out due to uncertainty that the Moore administration would support their initial proposal, and because of unresolved lawsuits over environmental implications.
According to state Del. Marc Korman (D-District 16), who is also the chair of the Maryland Environment and Transportation Committee, Transurban’s departure allows Moore “a chance to reassess and focus on the best transportation, environmental, and economic approach rather than a fixation on a costly private toll lane expansion.”
The department of transportation maintain its impact study, called the Managed Lanes Study, fully complied with all federal requirements in the environmental review process, MDOT spokesperson Terry Owens said. MDOT could not comment further due to the ongoing legal proceedings, Owens said.
MDOT and FHWA plan to file a response and cross-motion for summary judgment by Aug. 7, according to the court-ordered schedule, Owens said.
The NRDC press release also claims that the Hogan administration cut corners and ignored legally required steps to get the project started by: failing to analyze public health harms from air pollution on communities near I-270; withholding information about how MDOT predicted the projects’ effects on traffic; failing to determine the projects impact on a historical African American burial ground; and failing to consider project alternatives that would avoid or minimize harm to “biodiversity-rich and historic” Plummers Island.
The group added that the new Moore administration “has the opportunity to conduct the robust and just environmental review that the law requires.”
Pete DeMarco, a lawyer for NRDC said in the release, “Maryland residents got a visceral reminder of the full impact of the climate crisis last week as smoke from wildfires made our air hazardous to breathe. By bringing more cars onto these highways and creating new traffic bottlenecks, this project would worsen deadly air pollution, especially for nearby environmental justice communities. The state failed to account for the threats this project poses.”
In an email to MoCo360 Korman said, “I am eager to engage with the Maryland Department of Transportation … and believe we will have a more honest and cooperative process going forward, one that does not attempt to imagine away the high costs, environmental damage, and new bottlenecks of any roadway expansion and does not treat transit, transportation demand management, and other alternatives as an afterthought.”