Interior Secretary Zinke is proposing to swap the Baltimore-Washington Parkway to the state of Maryland for land that is "more suited to the mission of the National Park Service"/NPS file

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is proposing to trade a 19-mile section of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway to the state of Maryland. The move comes just months after the secretary diverted bridge maintenance funds from the parkway to pay for repairs to the Arlington Memorial Bridge in Washington, D.C.

Maryland's governor last fall proposed a $9 billion transportation plan to improve three congested highways, among them Baltimore-Washington Parkway, by adding additional express lanes. To do that, though, Maryland would need National Park Service approval.

According to a September 2017 story in the Baltimore Sun, the governor's $1.4 billion plan for the Baltimore-Washington Parkway "involves persuading the federal government to give the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, now controlled by the National Park Service, to the Maryland Transportation Authority."

Whether it was sheer coincidence or not, five months later when President Trump this past February broached his infrastructure plan, it included mention of divesting the federal government of the George Washington and Baltimore-Washington parkways.

The Arlington Memorial Bridge long has needed serious repairs, but Congress has failed to set aside a specific appropriation for the $227 million project. Last December, a handful of months after Secretary Zinke met with Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, the secretary announced he had found a way to fund the repairs without Congress's help: The $227 million would come, in part, from $74 million in Federal Lands Transportation Program funds along with $33 million, or roughly one-fourth, of the Park Service's annual construction budget. Another $30 million was made available through an amendment U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, attached to the Fiscal 2017 Appropriations Act, and the remaining $90 million from a FASTLANE grant.

As Traveler has reported, the use of that $33 million from the construction project impacts at least two Park Service projects. Part of the money comes from a delay in plans to rehabilitate the Elk Creek Visitor Center at Curecanti National Recreation Area, and an unspecified amount from the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, where it was to have been spent on bridge repairs.

Early Monday evening, Secretary Zinke announced that, "in an effort to carry out President Trump’s call to improve America’s infrastructure and transform our roads and bridges, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the state of Maryland have signed a non-binding general agreement to work together to explore possible legislative solutions regarding future management alternatives for a 19-mile portion of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway that is administered by the National Park Service. While no decisions have been made, the agreement provides a framework for DOI to collaborate with Governor Hogan and the state of Maryland to evaluate all possibilities."

“The most direct interaction that many Americans have with our nation's infrastructure is on their everyday commute,” Secretary Zinke said. “This is an initial step in determining what solution best serves the American taxpayers, including those who rely on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway to travel and commute every day.”

According to an Interior Department release, "(O)n the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2017 Infrastructure Report Card, America's roads received a "D" grade. The report cites an Urban Mobility Scorecard from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and INRIX, which indicates that in 2014, congestion cost Americans $160 billion in lost time and spent fuel. The Scorecard lists the Washington, D.C.-Virginia-Maryland area as the urban area with the highest yearly delay per auto commuter (82 hours), tied for the highest amount of excess fuel per auto commuter (35 gallons), and the highest congestion cost per commuter ($1,834)."

The Baltimore-Washington Parkway serves as a major transportation artery into Washington, D.C., with nearly 120,000 commuters daily. Ongoing development has increased traffic volumes and led to regular congestion.

“The Department of the Interior is not in the business of managing commuter highways. We owe it to the 120,000 taxpayers who use the Parkway every day to make the best possible decision to relieve traffic congestion and increase public safety in the region,” Secretary Zinke said. “It makes sense to explore a potential exchange of a highway for land that is more suited to the mission of the National Park Service.”

The parkway was authorized by Congress in 1950 as an extension of the park system of the District of Columbia to be managed by the NPS. It opened in 1954 and became an alternative to U.S. Route 1, which runs parallel to the west of the Parkway. It is designated as a Historic District and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.