Maryland Traffic Relief Plan
The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) announced the
Traffic Relief Plan to reduce traffic congestion, increase economic development, but most importantly, enhance safety and return quality of life to Maryland commuters. This announcement goes hand-in-hand with the State’s determination and commitment to deliver state-of-the-art transportation solutions to Maryland residents.
To help address some of Maryland’s transportation challenges, the Traffic Relief Plan will incorporate many projects around the state by providing a "system of systems" for users including improvements to highways and transit. The largest initiative in the Traffic Relief Plan will evaluate improvements in the I-495 and I-270 corridors, which will consider transformative solutions to address congestion along these highways in Montgomery, Prince George’s, and Frederick Counties.
Op Lanes Maryland is a historic effort to reduce congestion for millions of Maryland drivers by seeking input from the private sector to design, build, finance, operate, and maintain improvements on both I-495 and I-270. Improvements will be focused to transform these overloaded interstates to allow people to reach their destinations faster and to remove overflow traffic from the local roads.
In 2017, MDOT announced $7 billion in Baltimore Region Transportation Investments including adding new lanes to 27 miles of I-695 and I-95, and a transformative project to add four new lanes to the entire length of the Baltimore Washington Parkway (MD 295), from Baltimore City to Washington, D.C.
I-95
MDOT/MdTA committed $210 million to extend 7.75 miles of the northbound I-95 Express lanes (one additional lane) from north of MD 43 in Baltimore County to MD 24 in Harford County.
I-695
MDOT has committed $151 million for innovative congestion relief efforts on both the inner and outer loops of 19-miles of I-695 from I-70 to MD 43. $100 million has also been designated for the design and construction of a new configuration of the I-695 and I-70 interchange, often referred to as the "triple bridges."
MD-295
MDOT is seeking to transfer ownership of MD 295/Baltimore Washington Parkway from the U.S. Department of the Interior to the Maryland Transportation Authority to build, operate and maintain four new express toll lanes and upgrade and maintain existing lanes between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.
MDOT SHA has dedicated $50.3 million to deploy cutting-edge smart signals to improve traffic operation and ease congestion for approximately 700,000 drivers per day on 14 major corridors across the state. The system uses real-time traffic conditions and computer software that adjusts the timing of traffic signals, synchronizes the entire corridor, and effectively deploys artificial intelligence to keep traffic moving.
Office of Public Private Partnerships (P3)
The Office of Public Private Partnerships manages the I-495 & I-270 P3 Program to reduce congestion for Maryland drivers by seeking input from the private sector to design, build, finance, operate, and maintain improvements along the entire length of I-495 and I-270, a distance of approximately 77 miles. Improvements will transform these overloaded interstates, allowing people to reach their destinations faster and removing overflow traffic from local roads. The estimated cost of improvements to these corridors is between $8.5-$11 billion. The office is managed by a director and deputy director. The functional areas of the office are run by the following staff: a diversity manager who reports directly to the administrator, a government affairs manager, a construction and quality assurance manager, a contract and procurement manager, a real estate manager, and an operations and maintenance manager.