[FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION LETTER]


UPDATE ON THE CONSTRUCTION AND REHABILITATION OF THE BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON PARKWAY 
AND MARYLAND ROUTE 197 INTERCHANGE PROJECT BW 1El6

November 1, 2001

BACKGROUND:
The original design for the reconstruction of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and 
MD Rte. 197 interchange was completed in 1994. Due to limited funding, the National 
Park Service (NPS) requested that the project be constructed in stages. The Federal 
Highway Administration (FHWA) re-designed the project to accommodate the NPS request 
and broke the project into 6 construction stages. In 1998, and after the second 
stage was completed, The Secretary of Transportation and Congressman Steny H. Hoyer 
were able to come up with an innovative way of funding for the remaining stages of 
work. At that time, a decision was made with the NPS concurrence, to construct the 
remaining stages under one contract. In May 1999, the repacking was completed and 
Baltimore-Washington Parkway Improvement Program Project BW 1El6 was advertised for bids.

On June 8, 1999, the construction contract was awarded to Concrete General, Inc., of 
Gaithersburg, Maryland, in the amount of $20,094,162.50. The project consists of 
completing the reconstruction of the interchange at MD Rte. 197 and the 
Baltimore-Washington Parkway. The new interchange features a splitting of the 
MD Rte. 197 eastbound and westhbound lanes and a ramp connection from the northbound 
Baltimore-Washington Parkway to north on MD Rte. 197; the construction of a 
temporary detour road along the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, including two temporary 
bridges; construction of five permanent bridges; removal of two existing concrete 
rigid frame bridges; construction of 5.2 miles of roadway, including grading, 
street lighting, shoulders, signing, and traffic signalization; water and sewer line 
replacement; drainage modifications; and other miscellaneous work.

Construction operations began on July 6, 1999, with a completion date of 
September 23, 2001. The contractor was awarded 2 time extensions and the current 
contract completion date is June 26, 2002. The time extensions awarded were due to 
the following:

· Unexpected delay in obtaining environmental permits.
· Abnormal rainfall in fall of 1999, which hindered the excavation operation.
· Request by Maryland Department of Transportation to add turning lanes at South 
  Laurel Drive and Snowden Road. An additional stage to construct the concrete median 
  at MD197 was needed to accommodate this request.
· Request made by the business owners to construct a temporary roadway connecting 
  Mallard Drive and MD Rte. 197.
· Utility conflict throughout the project. In 1997, the FHWA and the NPS
  awarded separate contracts to utility companies to relocate their services in the
  areas of conflict. Even though the FHWA received clearances from the utility
  companies indicating that the relocated work was completed and their utilities
  were out of the way of the project, the contractor encountered many utilities
  conflicts, which in turn delayed his operations.

At this time, approximately 80 percent of the contract work has been completed. 
The two new bridges on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway over the westbound alignment 
of MD Rte. 197, and the Ramp C bridge have been completed. The new eastbound 
alignment of MD Rte. 197 has been paved with base asphalt, and all traffic was 
moved onto the eastbound roadway on July 13, 2001. Construction of the northbound 
alignment is now ongoing.

The FHWA and its partner the NPS has spared no expense trying to accommodate the 
general public concerns and to accelerate the completion of the project at the 
same time. The above-mentioned unforeseen conditions and a very tight job market 
in the construction industry in our area have made it difficult to accelerate 
the project beyond its current forecasted completion date.

This is an estimated time line for the construction of the remaining portion of 
the above mentioned project.

	- Construction of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway bridges over northbound 
	  MD Rte. 197 are scheduled to be completed by the end of January 2002. 
	  At that time, Baltimore-Washington Parkway will be shifted back to the 
	  original alignment.

	- Construction of the northbound MD Rte. 197 between the south end of the 
	  project and the ramp to northbound Baltimore-Washington Parkway (Ramp D), 
	  including the access ramp from southbound MD 197 to northbound 
	  MD Rte. 197 (Ramp E), which is about 250 feet south of Mallard Drive, and 
	  the ramp to northbound Baltimore-Washington Parkway (Ramp D), are scheduled 
	  to be completed and opened to traffic by December 31, 2001.

	- Construction of northbound MD 197 between the northbound Baltimore-Washington 
	  Parkway ramp and the northern end of the project (Muirkirk road) is scheduled 
	  to be completed and opened to traffic by summer of 2002.

	- Placement of final surface paving, permanent pavement markings and final 
	  cleanup to be completed by summer 2002.