$113 million project aims to alleviate traffic on Maryland's Interstate 97
Drivers who rely on Maryland's Interstate 97 could soon see traffic relief.
State and local leaders gathered in Annapolis on Monday to celebrate a $113.8 million project aimed at expanding the highway and improving safety.
The Maryland Department of Transportation and State Highway Administration are partnering with Anne Arundel County to widen a seven-mile stretch of I-97, from Maryland Route 32 in Millersville to U.S. 50 in Annapolis.
The county is contributing more than $10 million toward design and construction.
What is the plan?
Maryland's Acting Transportation Secretary, Samantha Biddle, said the project will add a third travel lane in each direction to improve safety and reduce congestion
"Meaning shorter commute times for workers and businesses and a quicker way for people to get to and from the Eastern Shore," said Biddle.
Currently, more than 100,000 vehicles travel this corridor each day, and that number is expected to grow to 135,000 by 2045, according to MDOT.
State Highway Administrator Will Pines said the project will address the bottleneck that happens near Annapolis.
"Everybody experiences it in this area where it backs up on a routine basis, and that has cars going all over the place on local roads, MD-2, MD-3," Pines said. "When this work is done, we want to keep people on the interstate so safety on those arterial roads is improved."
When will the roadwork begin?
Pines said construction is expected to begin in 2028 under a design-build contract that will allow the project to move forward more efficiently.
"It's a design-build which means it's going to move a little bit quicker than some of the others," said Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman. "Let's keep pushing to get it done because we're tired of sitting in traffic."
The I-97 widening project is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation's "Serious About Safety" initiative, which focuses on reducing crashes and improving roadway reliability across the state.
