Greenbelt Meeting to Address Widening the Parkway

The Federal Highway Administration will host Thursday night's public meeting about a feasibility study on widening the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, according to Councilmember Leta Mach.

The meeting will be held in the Greenbelt Community Center (15 Crescent Road) at 6:30 p.m. It is open to members of the public and is on council's meeting schedule, although it is not an official Greenbelt City Council meeting.

Although the U.S. Congress has not voted to approve widening the parkway, a feasibility study was birthed after Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., earmarked $1 million in funding for it in a 2010 appropriations bill. The funding flew below the radar of some local transportation officials, according to the Washington Examiner.

"What is a bit of a surprise is nobody seemed to know about this," said Ronald Kirby, transportation planning director for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, as reported by the Washington Examiner.

The feasibility study considers the costs and effects of adding a third lane to each side of the Parkway, stretching from New York Avenue to the interchange with I-695 just south of Baltimore.

“The city also strongly believes that widening the Parkway will change the very nature of the roadway from a parkway to an interstate,” Mayor Judith "J" Davis wrote in a 2011 letter to the Federal Highway Administration. “The city recognizes that the Parkway is crowded, but believes there are alternatives other than building new or expanding existing roadways to address congestion."