May 9th, 2023 by WCBC Radio

U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin and Congressmen Steny H. Hoyer, Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Kweisi Mfume, Jamie Raskin, David Trone, and Glenn Ivey (all D-Md.) announced $824,000 in federal funding for the Maryland Department of Transportation to improve Maryland’s scenic roads. This funding through the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration’s National Scenic Byways Program will support updated byway facilities, safety enhancements, and historical and cultural information markers along the state’s historic roads, including: Baltimore’s Historic Charles Street, the Chesapeake Country Scenic Byway, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, and the Religious Freedom Byway. Maryland also contains portions of the Historical National Road and the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Byway.  “Transpor-tourism is on the forefront of a synergistic approach of Maryland agencies, and this grant from USDOT will help us expand our outreach and provide greater opportunity for visitors to discover the history and beauty of our state,” said Liz Fitzsimmons, Managing Director of the Maryland Department of Commerce’s Office of Tourism and Film.  Created in 1991, the National Scenic Byways Program aims to recognize, preserve, and enhance selected roads with scenic, historic, cultural, natural recreational, and archeological significance throughout the United States. The Reviving America’s Scenic Byways Act, co-sponsored by both Senator Cardin and Senator Van Hollen and signed into law in September 2019, was the first step toward reinvigorating the program, and the lawmakers worked to invest in this program through new funding in fiscal year 2021 and increased fiscal year 2022 appropriations.