HOGAN ANNOUNCES BALTIMORE BELTWAY WIDENING: Gov. Larry Hogan announced Tuesday that the state will spend $461 million to ease congestion on the northern rim of the Baltimore Beltway, reports Erin Cox for the Sun. The plan would convert 19 miles of the interior shoulders in both directions on Interstate 695 into newtravel lanes between I-70 and Parkville, a move state officials said would cut about 15 minutes off rush hour delays that can stretch an hour or more.

“The important traffic relief initiatives we are announcing today will benefit the daily lives of millions of drivers throughout the Baltimore region,” said Hogan. More than 1 million vehicles travel a portion of the Baltimore Beltway on any given weekday. More than 40% of those vehicles use the highway during a morning or evening rush hour commute, according to the Maryland Department of Transportation, writes Bryan Sears for the Daily Record.
To break what he called “a notorious bottleneck,” Hogan said the state will also spend $100 million to design and construct of a “massive” new interchange where the triple bridges are at I-695 and I-70, Holden Wilen of the Baltimore Business Journal reports.

MD DEMS PROPOSE METRO FUNDING: Maryland Democratic lawmakers say they will propose a bill to provide increased, dedicated funding for Metro without raising taxes, and their plan drew an initial, supportive response from Gov. Larry Hogan (R). Robert McCartney of the Post reports that the initiative means that both the Maryland and Virginia General Assemblies will consider major legislation early next year to help the transit system, a development Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld called “extremely positive.”