May 27, 2021
With traffic expected to surge this Memorial Day weekend, additional Maryland state troopers will be on patrol and using a variety of initiatives to keep traffic moving, respond quickly to highway incidents and take appropriate enforcement action when violations are observed that threaten the safety of travelers.
Beginning Friday, troopers from each of the 23 Maryland State Police barracks statewide will be focusing enforcement efforts on impaired driving, aggressive driving, speeding, distracted driving and other violations that often contribute to highway tragedies. Additional troopers will be working overtime assignments funded by highway safety grants from the Maryland Department of Transportation’s Motor Vehicle Administration’s Highway Safety Office.
In his veto message to Maryland's General Assembly leaders, Gov. Larry Hogan wrote that the state and local governments have an obligation to assist federal law enforcement.
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WTOP traffic reporter Dave Dildine said traffic on the Capital Beltway near the American Legion Bridge last Friday peaked at the highest level since March 2020, surpassing the 2019 daily average.
“What that tells us is that not only was last Friday, a bad (afternoon) rush hour, it was slightly worse on the whole than your average old rush hour,” and drivers may need to readjust their expectations, Dildine said, because the “days of daylong free flow are pretty much over.”
The data is fairly representative of regional trends, he said.
(Source Maryland Department of Transportation)
The preliminary data from a Maryland Department of Transportation recorder also indicates that the rush hours are still somewhat different.
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Former state Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler (D) launched a second bid for governor on Tuesday with an embrace of “progressive” policies aimed at addressing long-simmering inequalities.
He also said the time has come for Maryland to legalize and tax marijuana.
A former two-term A.G. who served eight years as Montgomery County State’s Attorney, Gansler lost the 2014 gubernatorial primary to then-Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D).
He has been out of politics for seven years, serving as an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C. One of his current clients, an international consortium of road-building companies, is suing the Maryland Department of Transportation.