Midcounty Highway (M-83) was first included in Montgomery County’s Master Plan of Highways in the 1960s. It is planned to extend from Ridge Road (MD 27) in Clarksburg to Redland Road in Derwood as an 8.7-mile, controlled access, four to six-lane major highway. Over the years, a three-mile segment of Midcounty Highway was constructed between Shady Grove Road and Montgomery Village Avenue as well as a short two-lane section from Middlebrook Road to Grassy Knoll Terrace. Right-of-way is preserved on much of the unbuilt sections of the proposed highway.
On November 21, 2013, following publication of MCDOT’s Draft Environmental Effects Report, the Planning Board received a briefing by M-NCPPC staff and Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) staff and heard public testimony. As a result of the November 21, 2013 briefing and testimony, the Planning Board issued a letter to MCDOT supporting Alternative 9A, the master plan alignment. In 2015, MCDOT completed the Draft Preferred Alternative/Conceptual Mitigation Report, also recommending Alternative 9A as the Preferred Alternative.
In 2017, MCDOT completed the Midcounty Corridor Study Supplemental Report, evaluating three options that included transit. The analysis found that a transit-focused scenario, including bus rapid transit (BRT) on MD 355 and local intersection improvements, could accommodate a large share of the future transportation needs along the corridor.
Later that year, the County Council issued Resolution 18-957, directing the Planning Board “not to assume additional road capacity from the northern extension of Midcounty Highway when calculating the land use – transportation balance in future master plans, including but not limited to the upcoming Gaithersburg East Master Plan and the Germantown Plan for Town Sector Zone. This step ensures that any new development allowed under these plans does not rely on the northern extension of Midcounty Highway, while retaining the right-of-way for this extension in these plans.” MCDOT subsequently place the project on hold.