Gas Tax Up a Quarter in 2011

Oddly, this major news story appeared only in the Frederick News-Post as far as I know:

Maryland needs to increase its gas tax to pay for transportation projects across the state, the Senate president told assembled business leaders Tuesday.

Sen. Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. acknowledged that could take an act of political will by lawmakers, but pledged it as a major order of business if he is re-elected in 2011 to his Senate seat and the highest position in the Senate chamber.

If Gov. Martin O'Malley is re-elected, Miller predicted that a gas tax hike would be in effect in the first year of the new term. Miller did not specify how much of an increase. Both men are Democrats in a Democratically dominated state house.

"We're paving (I-)270 with stimulus money," Miller told an invited audience of about 80 Frederick County Chamber of Commerce trustees and board members. "All we're doing is repaving. All we're doing is maintenance. . . .

Federal stimulus money is limited to projects that can be ready within 120 days and directly result in jobs, Miller said.

Meanwhile, almost all of the state's major road improvement projects are on hold, as well as plans for Metro's red, purple and green lines.

The environmentally sound but regressive gas tax would need to go up by around twenty-five cents--more than doubling the current tax--to pay for the Corridor Cities Transitway, the Purple Line, and Baltimore Red Line. The plan is to wait until after the elections as it is easier to do tough things at the beginning of a four-year term. Of course, it may be even more difficult than now if the economy and gas prices recover between now and then.

Politics may well require an even higher tax hike. In order to get to the numbers needed to pass the tax increase, the General Assembly will need to fund other costly projects in other areas of the State. Why should Sen. Middleton (D-Charles) want to vote for a big tax hike on his constituents who already have long and expensive commutes?

Of course, the State increase in the gas tax doesn't help Montgomery answer the question of how to fund its share of these two projects. If anything, it makes it harder by making it even more difficult to levy new taxes at the local level.

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Planning Staff Recommends BRT for CCT

In striking contrast to recommendation for light rail (LRT) for the Purple Line, the Planning Board Staff has recommended bus-rapid transit (BRT) for the Corridor City Transitway (CCT).

If the decision to opt for BRT sticks, politicians may find that strong statements made regarding the great superiority of light rail over bus-rapid transit come back to bite them (darn Google and those digital records!) as they must explain to Upcounty residents why they should get the cheaper, much-derided buses but the Downcounty must have the vastly more expensive light rail. (Your gentle blogger has argued for BRT for both modes.)

Next post: the plan to pay for transit. Here is the press release from the Planning Board:

Planners Recommend Bus Rapid Transit for Proposed Corridor Cities Transit Project; Planning Board Schedules Public Hearing July 6

SILVER SPRING – Montgomery County planners have recommended bus rapid transit, a system designed to move transit vehicles past traffic congestion on dedicated lanes, for the Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT), a planned public transportation project linking Shady Grove with Clarksburg.

Following recommendations rolled out in the draft Gaithersburg West Master Plan, planners have endorsed a route for the CCT that follows a long established alignment from the Shady Grove Metro Station through Gaithersburg, Middlebrook and Germantown on its way to Clarksburg. However, planners recommend a change to the previously planned route through the Life Sciences Center near Gaithersburg.

Responding to a Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) report, planners also addressed a proposed expansion of I-270 as another strategy to improve mobility in the heavily traveled corridor. The expansion could include preferential lanes for high occupancy vehicles and drivers willing to pay a toll. Both projects would try to alleviate chronic traffic concerns in the I-270 Corridor, the economic engine of Montgomery County.

Planners made their recommendations based on MDOT’s Alternatives Analysis/Environmental Assessment report. Their recommendations go to the Planning Board, which has scheduled a July 6 public hearing to allow residents and others to have their say.

The board’s recommendation will be considered by the County Council’s transportation committee on July 13. Once the Council has collected input, it will send the county’s collective position on the two transportation projects back to the state.

The CCT has long been proposed along I-270, and the Planning Board has featured the CCT as an integral part of master plans for Gaithersburg West and Germantown. The transit route would support a growing number of workers and proposed new residences in those areas. In the state report, transportation planners evaluated premium bus, light rail and bus rapid transit. By choosing bus rapid transit, county planners have endorsed an alternative that is estimated to cost around $450 million. The CCT is expected to carry up to 27,000 people daily by 2030.

Planners say bus rapid transit would link activity centers in the corridor, maximize connections to other transit routes such as Metro, and increase opportunities for funding and construction phasing that would allow it to be built quickly.

As part of their proposal, planners recommend adding a busway segment through the Life Sciences Center that creates a loop serving Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, the Universities at Shady Grove, the emerging Johns Hopkins University campus, a redeveloped county Public Safety Training Academy site and other businesses. That new route, which would support proposed residential development, existing and planned heath sciences and hospital facilities, and biomedical research initiatives, has been the subject of much discussion as the Planning Board prepares to finalize its draft of the Gaithersburg West Master Plan next month.

The state report combines the CCT with I-270 highway improvements. Planners recommend that the CCT go first to emphasize the most affordable, green solution by combining transit and mixed use development to support a community less dependent on auto travel.

Planners reviewed the highway alternatives presented by the state and recommended a combination of express toll lanes and high-occupancy vehicle lanes. Express toll lanes provide a speedy and reliable option by charging a toll that varies depending on the time and day of use. The I-270 improvements, extending well into Frederick County, may cost up to $3.9 billion and could displace up to 260 homes, although transportation officials believe that number can be reduced significantly by minimizing the width of roadway shoulders and constructing retaining walls.

Adding a combination of high-occupancy lanes and tolls also would encourage people to commute longer distances by bus or rail and use the highway for carpooling to transit stations, planners say.

Planners also recommended that the County Council establish a working group to pursue potential funding for the CCT in addition to existing public transportation like Metro and Ride On.

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Out of Power, Out of Ideas, But Not Out of Breath

Former Assistant Secretary Carol Arscott penned a column in the Gazette which contains the now standard Republican bleating about the unfair media bias against Republicans. Her whinge centers on media treatment of transportation issues:

Maryland Republicans insist that Maryland Democrats can do anything and get away with it. There is no better example of the Republicans’ axiom than the reaction — or lack thereof — to the Feb. 22 bombshell announcement by Gov. Martin O’Malley’s secretary of transportation, John Porcari, that none of Maryland’s three major new transit projects — the Corridor Cities Transitway, the Purple Line or the Red Line in Baltimore — will go to public hearing this year as planned.

If Gov. Bob Ehrlich’s transportation secretary, Bob Flanagan, had dropped news of a major schedule slip in just one of those all-important transit projects during a legislative hearing, he would have been lucky to escape the building alive. There would have been rallies and demonstrations and editorials, all decrying the transit-hating Ehrlich administration.

But with Ehrlich gone, and no other whipping boy handy, public reaction to the announcement has ranged from muted to nonexistent.

This column is breathtaking in its audacity. After all, regardless of what one thinks of Transportation Secretary Porcari, these delays are hardly his fault. The delays in the environmental impact statements and the errors in ridership estimates are facts that would have come to light regardless of who was elected governor. Porcari just probably allowed them to become public sooner than they would have if Ehrlich and Arscott remained in power.

The column nonetheless has one good point. Arscott is correct that O'Malley, like her former boss Ehrlich, still has yet to figure out how to pay for the new projects.

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Gillogly on Council Town Meeting

Kevin Gillogly, a local activist who campaigned tirelessly for newly elected Councilman Marc Elrich, kindly shared this report on the County Council Town Meeting:

Wednesday, February 28 at Francis Scott Key MS in the White Oak/Hillandale section of Silver Spring, the Montgomery County Council had its first Town Meeting since the November elections brought four new members to the nine person Council.

Chaired by Council President, Marilyn Praisner (District 4 -- East County) and hosted by the local Council member, Valerie Ervin (District 5 -- Takoma Park, Silver Spring and Wheaton), there were a total seven of the nine members in attendance: Praisner, Ervin, Phil Andrews (District 4 -- Rockville / Gaithersburg), Duchy Trachtenberg (At Large), George Leventhal (At Large), Nancy Floreen (At Large) and Marc Elrich (At Large).

It was an hour long question and answer with local residents. It was taped by County Cable Channel 6 and it will be edited next week and shown for a month afterwords. To see the complete schedule go here.

The crowd of 90-100 was pumped full of sugar -- if one came to the reception a half hour before the meeting. I made full use of the cookies and soda.

Moderator Susan Kennedy asked prior to the taping how folks heard of the meeting: it was a split between local listservs and the postcard to local residents. The crowd was significantly older than the Van Hollen Town Meeting on Monday and clearly more interested in local issues.

The anti-ICC folks were present and handing out a flyer. No other issue groups were there.

After introductions by President Praisner and an acknowledgment of former State Senator Ida Ruben and her husband Judge Ruben, the bulk of the questions were on transportation, public safety and yes the ICC.

Key points that came out of the meeting:

Budget Deadlines
County Executive Ike Leggett has to submit his budget on March 15 and the County has to be completed by June 1 for the start of the County Fiscal Year (July 1);

Increase in Police Officers
Public Safety question on robberies in the area elicited from Public Safety Chair Phil Andrews that the County funded for 90 new police officers in the past few years at a cost of around $30-35 million and that these officers are to be deployed on robberies and the like. Police Chief Tom Manger is to bring up his Five Year Plan to the Council in the coming months;

Council Saves the Children of Forest Glen

Crossing Georgia Advcoate Adam Pagnucco humorously said regarding his group's effort to solve the dangerous crossing at Georgia Ave.: "We've been asking the government to build a new Metro entrance for quite awhile. We pleaded with them to build it. We complained. And finally, we revolted. Old ladies raised their canes to the sky in fury. And little kids refused to sit in their strollers to be wheeled across the street. The whole neighborhood went on strike!"

"This council heard us. They listened to us and understood our problems. And for the first time, they asked the state government to start development and evaluation on our project. That's the first step among many steps to build the new Metro entrance. And we are grateful for it."

Valerie Ervin and Marilyn Praisner both made comments supportive of the proposed tunnel;

Golden Shoveling It
The lack of snow removal around the Glenmont Metro elicited an apology from Nancy Floreen who agreed that public areas need to shoveled too. She also made her pitch for the Golden Shovel Award and for folks to nominate citizens who has really pitched in (my pun);

Birchmere
The status Birchmere in downtown Silver Spring seems to be "on track" according to Ervin and Praisner. State budget has $2 million for the project; County proposal comes out on March 14 and plans by the developer for the rest of the site are still to be determined;

The Never Ending Discussion
The interesting exchange started with a question on ... you guessed it ... the ICC. Where Praisner mentioned her opposition to the state road but that most of the plans are coming from the state where pro-ICC Gov O'Malley sits. Praisner favors four lanes at some places -- in lieu of the norm of six lanes. Floreen favors the road.

Marc Elrich is his only time speaking mentioned that only 4% of the traffic would go the full length of the road and they would only save 4 minutes (this according to the County and the State's own study). Marc mentioned the greatest use would be in the area between Shady Grove and Georgia Avenue and is this the best use of the money? Floreen believes if we don't use the money another part of the state will get the money instead of us.

Council Punts on Sending Their Transportation Priorities to the State
In light of the limited funds all elected officials mention, Marc pointed out that he asked his colleagues to sign a letter outlining the County's Transportation Policies with the Purple Line and the Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT) at the top of the list and the ICC not on it. Needing five signatories, Marc got four: his, Duchy's, Andrews and Praisner. So it died.

Leventhal and Elrich Exchange on Growth Policy
George Leventhal questioned Marc on what about the out of county residents. Marc fired back that the previous Council approved 110,000 in jobs and only 29,000 housing units and if you use the 1.5 workers per unit that there is a serious housing shortage that the previous Council did not address. This would have continued but Praisner interrupted them and got the questions back to the audience.

Future Events
Go to the County Web site for upcoming events, Executive Leggett will be at Ritchie ES in Rockville on March 23 (was originally in Feb but canceled due to snow) and at Holiday Park in Wheaton on March 29.

Kevin, thanks for the update! Keep 'em coming!

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Post: Purple Line Delayed

The Washington Post finally reported the widely known news on the Purple Line:

Maryland officials said yesterday that three major transit projects, two of them aimed at using light rail or express buses to ease traffic in the Washington suburbs, will likely be delayed about a year because of a flawed study that underestimated the number of riders.

State Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari said Metro's proposed Purple Line between Bethesda and New Carrollton, a transit link between Shady Grove and Clarksburg and the Red Line in Baltimore have been shelved while Maryland and its consultants work on new projections.

Porcari said that the state had planned to hold public hearings on draft environmental studies of the projects this spring but that they will likely be pushed to 2008. "Ridership numbers were wrong, and people were reluctant to face up to that," Porcari said. "I am not at all happy about this."

Shoot, even Maryland Politics Watch reported this news one week ago.

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Porcari on Transportation Projects

The Gazette interviewed Maryland Transportation Secretary John Porcari. Here is what he said towards the end about various transportation projects competing for funds:

Q: What about expanding the Red Line in Baltimore?

A: We want ... consensus. ... We don’t need warring advisory committees [or] counterproductive discussions about what’s appropriate and what’s not. We’ve had some discussions ... [about] trying to combine the two committees.

Q: On building the Metrorail Purple Line [between Bethesda and New Carrollton]?

A: A more refined model of ridership would serve the project well. Before you get to the specific alignments, the transit modes, you need a better understanding of the ridership potential. A corollary of that is tying it to local land-use plans. We’re working very closely with both Montgomery and Prince George’s County to make sure we are maximizing the potential for transit-oriented development.

Q: On Corridor Cities Transitway [a proposed busline between the Shady Grove Metro station and Clarksburg and perhaps Frederick]?

A: Maryland Transit Authority has ‘‘request for expression of interest” out to see if there’s any private interest for public-private partnership that would include the Corridor Cities Transitway in the 270 corridor.

Q: On building a second crossing over the Potomac River?

A: The difficulty is, if it makes sense to have a crossing, finding an alignment that works for both Virginia and Maryland. Our land uses are almost opposite on two sides of the river.

Q: On building a Route 301 bypass at Waldorf?

A: Some of the worst traffic congestion in the state is in Waldorf. The bypass is sorely needed. We’ve been working with county commissioners on preserving right-of-way for an alignment that works [and is mindful of the environmental issues].

Q: On augmenting Route 301’s Governor Nice Bridge from Southern Maryland to Virginia?

A: The bridge itself will need rehabilitation in the midterm. The question is ... whether a parallel span is needed. That’s one of the things the transportation authority is looking at now.

Q: On creating ferry service from Southern Maryland to the Eastern Shore?

A: It [would] require a substantial operating subsidy. Connecting Southern Maryland to the lower Shore does make a lot of sense ... [but] it’s not clear that ferry service, seasonal or year-round, would be cost-effective.

Fascinating that a man known for being a strong Purple Line advocate makes comments that are non-committal to say the least. Does anyone have any idea what these comments mean?

Meanwhile, Prince George's municipal officials rallied against the ICC and for the Purple Line.

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