When a private consortium backed out of Maryland’s controversial, $6 billion plan to relieve Beltway congestion late Thursday, the costly and complicated problem grew even more so.
The public-private partnership to rebuild the American Legion Bridge and add high occupancy toll-lanes to parts of the Capital Beltway and I-270 was billed by former governor Larry Hogan (R) as solution that ultimately would come at no cost to taxpayers.
But Maryland officials working for his successor said the preliminary work and environmental approval for the plan has cost at least $200 million — money the state currently has no set course to recoup.
“He [Hogan] always claimed it would be repaid someday by the vendor. As Creedence Clearwater Revival once said: someday never comes,” said Maryland House Majority Leader Marc Korman (D-Montgomery), a longtime critic of the public-private partnership.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Jon Banister over at The Washington Post
