What’s summer without a road trip?
Bypassing their Annapolis offices, members of the House Ways and Means Committee drove down to the new National Harbor waterfront city in Prince George’s County on Tuesday.
The unusual site visit — the group only makes about three a year — gave members a chance to stroll along the new $5 billion development being built on the shores of the Potomac River. National Harbor, which opened in April, includes an $800 million Gaylord hotel and convention center and a waterfront shopping village surrounded by towering condos.
‘‘Seeing this in person, it’s really magnificent,” said Del. Ann Marie Doory (D-Dist. 43) of Baltimore, one of about 20 committee members who toured the site with state transportation officials.
Striding past ‘‘The Awakening” sculpture, Del. Jon Cardin (D-Dist. 11) of Baltimore County said it reminded him of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
‘‘I’m absolutely floored,” Cardin said of the project. ‘‘They’ve got their work cut out for them to get the people here, but when it happens, it’s going to be big.”
The visit included a boat tour underneath the nearly completed Wilson Bridge, a project that took more than 10 years to construct. Cars are already driving over six of the 12 lanes that will be used to clear up the Beltway’s biggest bottleneck when most of the work wraps up this fall.
‘‘I think this is the first time we’ve ever seen a project that’s on time and under budget. Thank you,” said Del. Sheila Hixson (D-Dist. 20) of Silver Spring, chairwoman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which handles most state transportation funding.
Road and transit officials used the visit to show off the current progress on multiple exit ramps in southern Prince George’s County — and to start asking about future projects, including needed improvements to nearby Branch Avenue and Indian Head Highway planned in the coming years.
‘‘We’re constantly dealing with projects that are very complicated,” said Martin Harris, a state house liaison for the Maryland Department of Transportation. ‘‘This really does set the foundation. It puts the discussion in real context.”
E-mail Daniel Valentine at dvalentine@gazette.net.
