Home > Waldorf Bypass

Waldorf Bypass

Additional information on the Waldorf Bypass

The State Highway Administration is advancing three types of  proposals purported to address Waldorf traffic (www.US301Waldorf.org):

·   Several options to upgrade Rt. 301 through Waldorf to ease traffic congestion.

·   An eastern bypass that would harm Zekiah watershed.

·   A western bypass that would be devastating to the Mattawoman watershed and would impact the Port Tobacco watershed.

In 2001, two government-appointed Citizen Advisory Committees from Prince George’s and Charles’ Counties recommended a Rt. 301 upgrade option, not a new bypass highway. Yet SHA is now resurrecting the bypass options. Charles County government has so far thwarted an upgrade by insisting on a Western Bypass.

Yet in past planning, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers rejected the Western Bypass as too damaging to Mattawoman Creek.

In Charles County, there has been an unending effort to drive development and  congestion toward the Potomac River in order to justify a new Lower Potomac River Bridge that would be part of an outer beltway. Presently, most people feel the poor planning and congestion in Waldorf need to be addressed; the softer, far less harmful, path is the 301 Upgrade Plan through Waldorf.  This plan has far more tolerable impacts than the Waldorf Bypass.  Unlike the Waldorf Bypass, the 301 Upgrade would not destroy Mattawoman Creek.

Option 3 upgrades US301 to a through highway, with parallel access roads to service Waldorf’s businesses. It was endorsed by the Charles County’s Citizens Advisory Committee. By implementing the sub-option where US301 overpasses crossroads within Waldorf, minimal right-of-way is used and impacts to businesses are minimized.

Your comments are required to prevent the mistake of a new highway that is in fact intended to be part of the Outer Beltway and would spawn intense additional growth and congestion. The western bypass would drive through the heart of the Mattawoman watershed and would impact the Port Tobacco watershed. The eastern bypass would impact the Zekiah watershed. Please comment as described above to request an upgrade to Rt. 301, NOT a new highway.

Respect for our watersheds, the Mattawoman Creek, Potomac River, and Chesapeake Bay demand it.