http://alerts.motorists.org/nma-maryland-alert-should-the-baltimore-washi
July 22, 2011
NMA Maryland Alert: Should the Baltimore Washington Parkway (295) be Widened?
Open access to our federal government is a key issue in this day and age -- and that access includes roads to Washington...!
The Baltimore-Washington Parkway carries approximately 100,000 vehicles per day (Annual Average Daily Traffic), and this represents a five-fold traffic increase since the parkway opened more than 50 years ago. (See this historic overview.)
Yet when an NMA member called his Senator about the need to widen the Parkway to relieve congestion that had traffic at a daily standstill, he was told that he was "the only one complaining."
Do you agree that lanes (and not just an HOV lane) should be added to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway as soon as practically possible? Then add your voice to the chorus. Members of the Maryland House of Delegates and the State Senate, along with Baltimore officials, should hear the complaints about traffic on the parkway directly.
Here are the contact links:
Maryland House of Delegates
Maryland State Senate
Baltimore Department of Transportation
If any place needs its free and open access maintained, it's our nation's capital, right...?
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1 comment:
To Charles Walter et al-
As a Member of the NMA since about 1993 and a resident of Maryland since 1968, I have become concerned that the network of highways in and around the Washington DC area is not sufficient for the traffic that the metropolis can handle. With that being said, I cannot overlook the fact that there have been some highway projects which have for a multitude of reasons, been shelved because some special interest group deemed it 'harmful' if such highways were to be built.
The fact of the matter is while Washington DC needs drastic highway improvements and has needed them for the last three to four decades, widening the Baltimore Washington Parkway will NOT solve most traffic problems from Washington into the Maryland suburbs! What needs to happen is that there need to be plans to revive abandoned highway plans to allow at least one interstate highway to enter into Washington DC from the north; with a second spur route also being a strong consideration.
What I'm talking about is having Interstate-95 go south of the Capital Beltway (at Exit 27) and go south into Washington DC and eventually meet up with the access road of I-395 at the 3rd Street tunnel. The route I think would work for this would be for I-95 to proceed south from the Beltway within the Potomac Electric Power Company right-of-way and eventually meet up with MD-650 (New Hampshire Avenue) continue adjacent from there south until the Railroad right-of-way and continue south from there until reaching New York Avenue at which point it would turn west and eventually run into the 3rd street tunnel.
Another consideration would be to have I-270 be built inside the Beltway along the railroad right-of-way until reaching the I-95 at about New Hampshire Avenue.
I think the first move alone will go a long way in solving the traffic problems in and around the Washington area. Granted, getting the DC government to accept this will be extremely difficult, but it must be done!
Tony Spezio
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