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The planning director for Maryland’s highways reported detailed studies on the two final candidates for eastern corridors will be completed by the fall of 1989. But for the western bypass alternatives, “it will probably be years before we get to that level of detail if the decision is made to proceed with that type of planning,” Mr. Pederson added.
And the representation of resource and planning agencies from Maryland - which “owns” both banks of the Potomac and thus controls bridge construction - signaled that state’s continued concern with the land use and environmental issues posed by a new superhighway coming west across the river into areas planned to stay predominantly agricultural.
(In comparison to the 20-some representatives from Maryland offices, there were no delegations from the Commonwealth’s agencies at Thursday’s meeting. The single representative outside of the Task Force members was Robert Dennis, president of the Piedmont Environmental Council, who by the governor’s appointment is also chairman of the Rappahannock River Basin Citizens Committee for the Chesapeake Bay.)
Two alternatives for western and eastern routes
In the 18-month study, BMI will begin with 12 alternatives and narrow the choices to two finalists for both eastern and western routes, based on environmental, engineering, traffic, and land use factors.
The highway itself is primarily intended to serve through-truck traffic by routing it around the region, said BMI’s Salvatore Bellomo. “We’re not talking about an outer beltway ... What we’re looking at is a bypass.”
The bypass would be an interstate-type facility designed for traffic to travel at 70 miles per hour; it would have four to six lanes and an 80 foot median strip wide enough to allow expansion, a total right-of-way of 450 feet, and controlled access with interchanges “a minimum of two miles apart” at “strategic junction points,” according to BMI’s representatives speaking at Thursday’s meeting.
Environmental issues to be taken into account in the evaluation of the
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