Hundreds of homes along Interstate 270 lay in the path the state could carve if it widens the highway from Shady Grove Road past Frederick — most of them in densely populated, high-minority neighborhoods in Gaithersburg.

A state report detailing, among other things, the environmental and cultural impacts of six variations on the proposed $3.9 billion project cites 251 condominiums, apartments and single-family homes that could be demolished if I-270 is widened without regard for its impAacts.

Three homes on Comus Road north of Clarksburg could be razed, according to the State Highway Administration and the Maryland Transit Administration study. So could a single-family home on Game Preserve Road south of Germantown and 16 homes in Frederick County.

Nearly all the others line a mile-long stretch of the 56-year-old highway between Interstate 370 and Route 117 in Gaithersburg, where homes are in some spots barely 10 feet from the roadway — 81 townhouses in Brighton West Condominiums on the interstate's western edge; 150 apartments in the Londonderry and Montgomery Club complexes to the east. And for the 258-unit Fireside Condominiums next door, the widening could spell the community's ruin if pending studies determine that the project will breach Fireside's underground network of heating and cooling pipes, according to state officials and Fireside's property manager.

Using federal standards aimed at preventing discrimination against minorities and low-income populations, the report states that the overall effect on minority communities would not likely meet the threshold for "disproportionately high and adverse" impacts. However, since nearly all of the displaced homes would come from minority heavy neighborhoods "suggests" that the threshold could be met.

The federal guidelines require the state to try to lessen the impacts and reach out to affected communities, but do not prevent the project from moving forward, according to the report.

Barely two years after she was forced from her home — along with 350 families — so that the Broadstone Apartments in Gaithersburg could be replaced with high-price condos, Marcellia Kemp, 45, finds herself in one of the Londonderry buildings that may be demolished.

After her ordeal with Broadstone, Kemp swore she move again only if it was to get married or to buy a home. The lesson she learned: the county's stock of affordable housing is dwindling.

"It seems that moderate income-level housing is being squashed in Montgomery County. Either you're low, low, low, and have federal or state benefits … or you have the very expensive townhomes or condos," she said. "That middle-road group, it seems like we're being squeezed out."

As part of their effort to secure smaller meetings with each of the affected neighborhoods, state officials will answer questions at Fireside's board meeting June 23.

Officials stress that the number of displaced homes can be pared back from 251 to fewer than a dozen by narrowing highway shoulders, building retaining walls and eliminating an access ramp planned for Rte. 117. Those measures would require federal approval that must also consider whether the steps have too adverse an effect on the project overall, said Russ Anderson, SHA's project manager for the highway widening.

Pointing to the Fox Chapel neighborhood in Germantown as proof that demolitions can be designed around, officials are calling for community input next week at the study's only public hearings. The first is 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Gaithersburg Middle School, followed at the same time June 18 at Monocacy Middle School in Frederick.

After the 2002 draft study showed that Fox Chapel was in harm's way, clamor from residents prompted SHA to include a retaining wall and narrowed highway shoulders, Anderson said.

Though that still needs federal approval, the threatened Gaithersburg communities have similar prospects.

At Brighton West, a 2,300-foot retaining wall and narrower shoulders could cut displacements from 81 to 10 homes or less, according to the report.

A 1,700-foot retaining wall at Londonderry and Montgomery Club could trim the loss from 150 to 61 homes. Eliminating an access ramp to Route 117 would prevent any displacements.

For any properties that cannot be spared, federal and state law requires the state to assist residents with relocation.

Express Toll Lanes an option

Interstate 270's makeover would come as part of the state's "I-270/US-15 Multi-modal Corridor Study," which also lays out a mass transit line that would run from the Shady Grove metro station west to Gaithersburg then north through Germantown to Clarksburg. With about 80 percent of the right-of-way already set aside, the Corridor Cities Transitway would displace up to nine homes and 43 businesses without mitigation, according to the report.

Maryland's Department of Transportation Secretary could decide by the end of the year whether the CCT will be a light rail or rapid-bus line. That decision will include which option is best for widening 270. The alternatives vary in the kinds of toll lanes and how far north they extend. Most of the options detailed in the study would be paired with light rail or rapid bus for the CCT, to try to cope with a more than 20 percent increase in I-270 traffic as Montgomery County passes the 1.1 million-resident mark by 2030.

Last month's study considered two options added since 2002, both of which would feature "Express Toll Lanes" — barrier-separated lanes in the median paid according to the time of day and length of use. The first new option has four general-use lanes in each direction and two toll lanes in Montgomery turning into two general-use lanes and one toll lane in Frederick. The second new option would do the same, but add a second toll lane in Frederick.

The transportation secretary will listen to what local officials want before choosing which CCT-highway combination, according to the report. After that, the highway widening and the CCT will follow separate timelines.

The highway's timeline for final engineering, federal approval and the start of construction hinges on funding, according to the report: While toll revenues will help defray those costs, the bulk would come from state and federal sources.

"In a perfect world, it could be five to six years out before anything gets built," Anderson told the Gaithersburg City Council in a briefing Monday night, where concerns focused on alignment of the CCT and the effectiveness of Express Toll Lanes.