Leaders of metropolitan Washington, D.C.’s regional planning organization have joined the chorus of opposition to Maryland’s $11-billion plan to add express lanes to portions of the I-495 Beltway and I-270.

州公路局正在为50年P3特许权选择开发合作伙伴，among three bidding teams，预计本月公告。

"Extremely disappointed” is how Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission Chair Elizabeth Hewlett characterized the group's reaction to the State Highway Administration’s preferred alternative, announced Jan. 27, which calls for two express toll lanes in each direction on both highways. That approach is one of six design-build options that emerged from the project’s draft environmental impact statement.

该委员会还指责国家运输官员没有通过将一部分预期的通行费收入用于运输计划来最大程度地减少该项目所需的土地数量。

“Any alternative that does not include substantial support for transit from toll revenue is a non-starter,” said commission Vice-Chair Casey Anderson, adding that the state plan to give buses free use of the completed express lanes “is not going to cut it.”

首选替代方案

首选的替代计划将被视为提供最快，最可靠的旅行时间，将从扩大的波托马克河交叉口开始，以使与弗吉尼亚州的环城公路车道无缝连接。

马里兰augme还承诺nt the new express lanes with improved bicycle and pedestrian connections, regional transit improvements such as expanded bus capacity at the Shady Grove Metrorail station, expanded park-and-ride facilities and environmental enhancements.

Those promises have done little to appease project opponents, who range from residents of neighborhoods already severed by the highways to scientists who worry that even limited construction activity on a relatively isolated Potomac River island will disrupt long-running environmental studies. In November, the U.S. Navy notified state officials that it would not cede any military property under its control for the widening project, including the site of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

马里兰州反驳说，它将与其私人发展合作伙伴和所有利益相关者合作，以“推进初步设计，以进一步避免并最大程度地减少对环境资源，社区，财产，公用事业和其他功能的影响”。