Washington County asked DHS for millions to widen I-81, but there’s a catch

For the average driver, Washington County’s Interstate 81 can be harrowing — steep hills, narrow shoulders and so many tractor trailers.

Which is why Maryland has been widening it. For the past year or so, crews have been out taking soil samples as they prepare to truck in tons of asphalt for the next phase of adding lanes.

However, they don’t seem to be going fast enough for local officials who, last month, sought help from an unusual partner.

In February, Washington County Administrator Michelle Gordon wrote to the Department of Homeland Security, which recently purchased a warehouse there with plans to convert it into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding facility. She asked DHS to nudge federal transportation officials for $300 million to $350 million for the highway project.

Gordon wrote in a Feb. 10 email that the county had been “unsuccessful at securing funding” from the state for 25 years. The email was obtained through a records request by local activist Ethan Wechtaluk — who’s running in the Democratic primary against U.S. Rep. April McClain Delaney — and shared with The Banner.

However, Maryland had already started funding the work — some years ago, in fact.

The state has not yet funded the entire 12.5-mile project, but Gordon did not mention that more than $260 million has already been spent or is included in the state’s budget for I-81 when writing her personal appeal to then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

In response to an email asking Washington County officials to square their request with the State Highway Administration’s ongoing work, an unnamed county representative wrote that construction for the project’s second phase won’t begin until 2027. Officials landed on the $350 million figure based on the state Department of Transportation’s estimates for finishing the widening work that’s still unfunded, the representative said.

I-81 is a critical corridor for East Coast shipping. Warehouses and distribution centers line much of the highway through Pennsylvania, Virginia and the 12.5-mile stretch in Maryland. Nearly 30% of the more than 86,000 vehicles that drive Maryland’s stretch every day are trucks, according to the State Highway Administration.

But its two lanes often leave regular drivers white-knuckling the steering wheel amid herds of 18-wheelers.

Despite Gordon’s assertion, the State Highway Administration had already launched a multiphase project to widen I-81. It finished the first $105 million phase almost six years ago, and is spending more than $160 million over the next six years for the next phase.

“The work [the Department of Transportation] is pursuing on the I-81 corridor project is critical to improving safety and traffic operations ... and to accommodate continued commercial truck and freight demand while supporting Maryland’s economic development goals,” SHA spokesperson Danny Allman wrote in an email.

The Department of Transportation split the widening into four phases.

Phase one — covering roughly a mile where the highway connects across the Potomac River to West Virginia — was finished in 2020.

Officials expect the design for phase two — the next three miles, taking the work past the Interstate 70 interchange — to wrap soon, with construction starting next spring, Allman said. The state’s six-year capital spending budget shows more than $152 million programmed for construction, about 90% of which will be eligible for reimbursement from Federal Highway Administration formula funding.

Subsequent phases will extend the widening north on I-81 to the Pennsylvania line.

The day before Gordon’s email to Noem, Washington County officials signed an official resolution expressing support for DHS and its immigration enforcement efforts.

Gordon then personally invited Noem and President Donald Trump to visit the county. And since the holding facility could strain local infrastructure, she asked for help improving the necessary water and sewer lines and securing funding for the county’s airport and the highway project.

“Washington County is a Republican lead county in a Democratic State which often leaves the voices of our shared constituents unheard at the State level,” she wrote.

But just a year ago, Gordon and other local leaders praised state funding for the highway project.

“We are thrilled to see Governor Wes Moore’s proposed budget include the necessary funding to fully advance Phase 2 of the I-81 Corridor Improvement Project,” wrote John Barr, president of the Washington County Board of Commissioners, in a January 2025 news release.

“The collaboration among local, state, and community partners has been remarkable, and this milestone highlights the impact of their dedication,” Gordon said in the same release.

Some in Washington County support Homeland Security’s plan to convert the 825,000-square-foot warehouse into a center that could house up to 1,500 detainees; 60% of the county’s voters backed Trump in the 2024 election. But since the purchase in January, a groundswell of opposition has packed local government meetings, and local officials like Gordon and Barr have largely shut down discussion about it.

In a Wednesday news release, county officials said they met with Homeland Security two days earlier, describing the meeting as an important step toward better information sharing and improved communication. They said the agency committed to covering the water and sewer needs.

Federal officials also made it clear that the facility would be a processing site, where people may be kept for up to a week before being sent elsewhere, and not a detention center, the county’s release said. It also described how ICE would treat “detainees” there, as well as the facility’s “detention standards.” In its own public statements, ICE has referred to the proposed Hagerstown site as a detention facility.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown is suing to stop the facility’s build-out and operation on environmental grounds. A federal judge has issued a stop-work order through mid-April until a ruling in the case.