A little noticed bill passed in the 1997 General Assembly session will greatly alter property owners’ right of access to State highways.

Senate Bill 294 allows the State Highway Administration to convert existing highways to expressways with limited access.

Until the October 1, 1997 effective date of this legislation, the SHA is precluded, except in very limited circumstances, from denying access to State roads.

This legislation permits the SHA to designate State roads as expressways and not only deny future access to abutting property owners if there is alternate access to another public road, but to do so without compensation to the land owner. Additionally, the SHA may close an existing access to such a State expressway from an abutting property if there is alternate access, but again without any
compensation.

Moreover, this new law provides that the SHA may “deny an abutting property owner all new access along any primary State highway if reasonable access to another public road is available to and from the property.” That language is even broader than the other new provisions limited to the newly designated expressways.

It is not clear how these amendments to Section 8-620 of the Transportation Article of the Maryland Code will be implemented. However, the repeal of prohibitions against denying access to State roads has greatly expanded the
authority of SHA. And providing that “‘denial of access’ is an exercise of the police power and does not require the payment of compensation” is a marked deviation from the prior law precluding denial of access.