The recent stimulus transportation project list contains no projects exclusively located in Montgomery County. That is an interesting choice for the O'Malley administration.
The distribution of the Governor's project list is:
Statewide Safety, Resurfacing and Local Transit Vehicles: $203.8 million (55.8%)
Baltimore Region: $70.9 million (19.4%)
Baltimore City and Baltimore County: $39.3 million (10.8%)
Baltimore City: $30.4 million (8.3%)
Prince George's County: $6.3 million (1.7%)
Annapolis and Anne Arundel, Howard, MoCo and Prince George's: $5 million (1.4%)
Allegany, Charles, Frederick, Harford, Wicomico and Washington: $5 million (1.4%)
Anne Arundel: $3 million (0.8%)
Prince George's, Howard and Upper Shore Environmental: $0.7 million (0.2%)
Baltimore County: $0.4 million (0.1%)
Cecil County: $0.4 million (0.1%)
Total: $365.2 million
Montgomery will get a share of some of the safety, resurfacing and local transit vehicle purchase projects. But the Baltimore Region, Baltimore City and Baltimore County were targeted for a combined $141 million (or 38.6% of the stimulus total) in exclusive projects. Montgomery's percentage of exclusives? ZERO.
Update: In a new press release, MDOT reports that $33 million of the $203.8 million in safety, resurfacing and transit vehicle projects will be spent in Montgomery. The release states:Phase I projects in Montgomery County include road, safety and transit investments totaling nearly $33 million dollars. The projects include resurfacing portions of:
Our sources also tell us that the state may be counting federal investments in WMATA as targeted funds for Montgomery and Prince George's Counties.
- The Capital Beltway Between I-270 and the American Legion Bridge
- New Hampshire Avenue in White Oak;
- Old Georgetown Road near Bethesda; and
- University Boulevard in Wheaton.
Transit grant funding will be provided to the county for “Ride On” bus replacement or facility upgrades – the specifics of which will be determined with the county. Phase I projects in Montgomery County also will deliver everything from: new ADA compliant sidewalks and safety guardrails to traffic signal upgrades at key intersections.
Of course, if the state was really interested in making Montgomery whole, it could reimburse the county for the $73 million it is spending on jump-starting state projects. But there is no talk of that in Annapolis.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Where is MoCo's Transportation Stimulus? (Updated)
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2 comments:
And this surprises you why, precisely? After spending the 2006 campaign talking about his Montgomery County upbringing, O'Malley has done precisely zero for MC. From Cabinet members (nobody beyond Tom Perez) to budget issues to you name it, O'Malley has pretty much either ignored or abused Montgomery County. This is just the latest indignity.
You know that in about a year or so, O'Malley will be back, hat in hand, all nice and sticky sweet, talking about his Rockville childhood and how he just loves Montgomery County (and of course needs our votes to get reelected).
The 2010 budget will undoubtedly contain certain goodies directed our way, but we shouldn't forget the crappy treatment from 2007-2009.
Will he succeed in wooing us back? Something about fool me once, won't get fooled again (to quote George W. Bush) seems appropriate here, but only time will tell.
My guess is that he will succeed in getting our votes, but will not get anywhere near the enthusiasm that he generated in 2006.
Oh great... no money to do something with the area around Navy Med that will be inundated with traffic when Walter Reed closes. Rout 355 between Navy Med and NIH is going to be a mess and will probably end up on most of the "most congested" lists around the country.
Of course if we had a representative in congress and not a Democratic Party hack, this might be different. Van Hollen is so useless yet he's snowed the 8th District by dazzling them with the Bravo Sierra of an alleged party position. I still want a representative, not a party hack!
Time for Van Hollen to stand up and do something for his district... or step aside and give up the seat to someone who cares about the people who live here!
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