Environmentalists and community groups are asking a federal judge to rule in their favor to require Maryland’s department of transportation to conduct a thorough environmental review before expanding Interstate 270.
“A group of environmentalists and historic preservation groups challenging the expansion of Interstate 270 and the Capital Beltway in U.S. District Court have asked a judge to decide the case in their favor,” writes Danielle E. Gaines in Maryland Matters.
The lawsuit centers on environmental review: “The groups allege that the governments failed to adequately analyze potential public health harms from air pollution, effects on traffic, environmental impact to a Potomac River island, and damage to the Morningstar Moses Cemetery and Hall, a historic African-American burial ground adjacent to the Beltway.” The plaintiffs say the project “would cause harm to public health, natural resources, and historic places that were already impacted by the original Beltway construction in the 1960s.”
The I-495/I-270 Managed Lanes Project has been in limbo since the developer selected by the state for the project canceled its contract in March. Previously, the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) halted the project before allowing it to move forward with revisions that scaled it back.
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