WASHINGTON — The Prince George’s County Council is against a long-range proposal aimed at transferring the Baltimore-Washington Parkway from federal to state control — a step that could bring toll lanes to the parkway.
Council members voted unanimously 6-0 at Tuesday’s meeting to send a letter to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, asking him to drop his takeover plan.
“Your administration’s $9 billion Traffic Relief Plan, which includes the plan to widen the Baltimore-Washington Park, runs counter to the protection of the Parkway’s aesthetic underpinnings,” said the letter from the Prince George’s County Council. The letter also called the potential toll lanes that may come from the proposal untenable.
Last month, the Trump and Hogan administrations agreed to explore the possibility of having the state of Maryland take control of the parkway.
“It’s not a good sign of good faith effort to work with those governments that could be impacted by potential development along this corridor,” said council Vice Chair Todd Turner, D-District 4, who told his colleagues the county has been shut out of the planning process.
The Baltimore-Washington Parkway is part of Hogan’s plan to expand toll lanes around the D.C. area, including on the Capital Beltway in Maryland and along some of Interstate 270.
“There was a study only a couple of years ago by the … Department of Interior, National Park Service that in essence said it’s not economically feasible to do that,” Turner said about proposed parkway toll lanes.
Any transfer of the federally-owned parkway would require the approval of the U.S. Congress.
