I-95 At Belvidere Road Interchange - Environment

Overview

In designing and constructing the new Belvidere Road Interchange, a top priority of the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) is protecting the environment. With MDTA oversight and by using environmentally sensitive technologies and construction practices, Concrete General-WRA (the Design-Build Contractor) is working diligently to reduce environmental impacts on plants and wildlife in the vicinity of Belvidere Road and beyond.

Protecting the Environment

Environmental commitments and permit conditions being implemented to protect the sensitive natural resources associated with the project include but are not limited to:

• Delineating and maintaining limits of disturbance to minimize the project’s impacts to the surrounding environment
• Ensuring proper erosion and sediment controls are in place and maintained
• Stabilizing disturbed areas not under active grading
• Implementing protection measures for forests and trees
• Maintaining control of airborne particles through implementation of a dust control plan
• Implementing a Construction Noise and Work Hours Plan
• Implementing a Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasures Plan and Vibration Monitoring and Control Plan
• Implementing an Environmental Communication, Emergency Response and Risk Management Plan
• Performing in-stream water quality monitoring throughout construction

Approvals and Permits

Numerous environmental approvals and construction permits are associated with the project. These include:

• Federal Highway Administration - Categorical Exclusion (NEPA)
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Biological Assessment (Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act)
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Section 404 authorization (Baltimore District)
• Maryland Board of Public Works Tidal Wetlands License
• Maryland Department of the Environment Nontidal Wetlands and Waterways, and 100-Year Floodplains Permit
• Maryland Department of Natural Resources Concurrence on Swamp Pink, Low Rough Aster, Evergreen Bayberry, Canada Burnet, and Long-stalk Greenbrier
• Maryland Historic Trust Concurrence
• Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Forest Service – Reforestation Site Review
• Maryland Department of the Environment Section 401 Water Quality Certification

Environmental Planning Studies

The MDTA completed project planning studies for the I-95 at Belvidere Road Transportation Improvement Project, which identified alternate solutions to transportation issues within the study area bounded by MD 222, MD 272, and US 40, evaluated environmental and community impacts of the alternatives, and gathered public and permitting agency input on the project. The study team coordinated with regulatory agencies to develop the project’s environmental documents. The Finding of a Categorical Exclusion was approved by the Federal Highway Administration on May 19, 2022. A categorical exclusion is a class of actions that a federal agency has determined, after review by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and for which, therefore, neither an environmental assessment nor an environmental impact statement is normally required. Further information on the study can be found on the Study page or by clicking here.