Construction to Start on Watkins Mill Interchange in Late July
Commuters may be seeing signs of improvement soon as the Maryland State Highway Administration has confirmed that a construction company has been chosen to begin the long sought Watkins Mill Road Interchange on I-270.
According to Charlie Gishlar a spokesman with MDSHA confirmed that York, Pa.-based Wagman Heavy Civil, Inc. had been awarded the contract to construct the interchange. Gishlar said that work could begin as soon as July 30, 2017.
While the new interchange will not be Germantown, it will be close enough to change the way many Germantown residents enter and exit I-270.
The new interchange will be built at Watkins Mill Road in Gaithersburg, a little more than 4,000 feet north of where Quince Orchard Road crosses under I-270. It will provide both northbound and southbound entrance to I-270 and allow traffic to exit I-270 from both directions to go either east on Watkins Mill Road to Rt. 355 or west to Clopper Road.
Although State Highway Administration information puts the project cost at nearly $129.5 million, that total includes nearly $10.3 million in rights of way, which have already been donated.
The interchange had been an issue between Republican Governor Larry Hogan and the Democrats who control the General Assembly. The project was one of 11 in Montgomery County that was in danger of being canceled because of what Hogan called the “road kill bill,” legislation that forced the administration to rank transportation projects and to say why certain projects receive state funding.
