While Maryland residents and elected officials scurried around in preparation for the holidays last week, the state Department of Transportation quietly took a major step in its $11 billion I-495/I-270 “managed lanes” highway project.
With no notice to the public, the agency issued its formal Request for Proposals (RFP) for the project late on Friday, Dec. 18. The four giant transportation consortiums that have formed to bid on the massive project were given three business days to return the “technical” portion of their responses. (Financial responses are due on Jan. 8.)
MDOT then slipped the RFP onto its website in the early evening hours of Dec. 23, after employees had gone home for the long holiday weekend.
Opponents of Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr.’s plan to rebuild the American Legion Bridge and add “express toll lanes” to the two highways harshly criticized the agency’s efforts to minimize public scrutiny of the RFP.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Bruce DePuyt over at Maryland Matters
