What has been the budget situation for Maryland transportation since the start of the recession?
We cut over $2 billion — it probably amounted to about $2.5 billion in our six-year capital program. We did that in a couple of different rounds. When the recession began we cut about half that amount.  We cut out what we call our expansion projects, the new projects that add spending.  It was the money we had been able to put into our program that the governor and legislature had passed during the special session. Essentially we had to take out what we had hoped to add.

When the second wave hit us, we had no choice but to go into our system preservation. We’ve always been very proud of the way we’ve maintained our roads and transit. We were not really happy about that (cutting into maintenance).

The good news is in the short term, the president and the Congress added the stimulus money. And Maryland received about $650 million. We applied it back to a fix-it-first plan. We were able to continue purchasing buses for our transit program and fix up some vehicles. That really in effect negated what would have been a serious fiscal loss in fiscal years 2009 and 2010.

What’s the status of funding on major projects like the ICC and the proposed Red and Purple lines?
People say, “Well, gee, you hit the recession, why didn’t you just stop the ICC?”  It has its own financing package that wouldn’t have helped to pull funding for other projects. The ICC was financed through a special financing package. It wasn’t a matter of mingling or co-mingling funding.  That project was funded very specifically with general funds, trust funds, federal funds, tolls and bonds called GARVEEs (Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicles, named for former Massachusetts transportation chief Jane Garvey). With regard to the Red and Purple lines, we have continued to match federal funding for studies. To not push forward with the planning would have put us at risk for funding when the money becomes available.

What specifically have you done to keep up in the federal funding race? We’re in the planning process and have already been submitted to the FTA (Federal Transit Administration.)  We’re working in a joint partnership with the FTA in finalizing the planning and engineering the cost projections and finalize the ridership numbers. We hope that will be after the midterm elections, we hope by then these projects will be through the FTA review process. They will compete very favorably with the other projects from around the country.

How vital is the transportation department’s work for the success of business? 
It’s about addressing a full range of transportation issues. We’re one of a few transportation departments that have all the entities in one mode. For example, we look at making sure the airport is competitive, that we are competitive in terms of air when you compare BWI to National and Reagan. We have the Port of Baltimore, and that, of course, is extremely important to business here. The port’s right at the top with regard to automobile imports. We also have freight. We’re served by CSX and Norfolk Southern at the Port of Baltimore. We’re working with both of them, as they have national infrastructure projects under way. It’s the closest port to Chicago. And then you have the obvious, which is making sure that we have a good highway and transit system. 

What are some of the major projects that have been completed, and what are they doing for business? 
The ICC is certainly going to be very big in linking the D.C. metro area to Baltimore. The governor has announced the Seagirt Marine Terminal deal with Ports of America. It will allow the Port of Baltimore to entertain the new Panama ships. (The Panama Canal is undergoing a massive expansion.) It will have a tremendous business impact. Last year, we finished work on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

How have transportation 
revenue sources fared 
during the recession?
The largest revenue source is the titling tax — that tax has been hurt most severely by the recession. The gas tax has not been hit so hard. The titling tax has gone down, a 21 percent reduction. That really has been what has hit the Transportation Trust Fund the most.

Do you support increasing 
the gas tax or indexing it so it increases automatically with the price of gas?
Neither the state nor the federal gas taxes have been increased since 1992 or 1993. Our position has been that we would really like to see a new national transportation program, authorized by Congress, with a sustainable funding source.  That would then lay the marker for what would frankly allow us to plan and then provide a sustainable funding source to the states.

Do you have any concerns about the sustainability of the gas tax as a revenue source?
In the very long term, it is an issue. We have this conversation a lot around the country. Some have started taxing VMT or vehicle miles traveled. I don’t think anybody has a better idea in the short term. In term of the actual revenue, while it has only gone down slightly, the only time we have seen a serious dip was the summer that fuel hit $4 a gallon. There is a point where people stop and reassess their priorities. But certainly when we saw it hit $4 a gallon, we did see people driving less.   

By Tom LoBianco
Corridor Inc.
May 2010 Print Edition