St. Mary's Commissioner Larry Jarboe (R. Golden Beach), Sen. Roy Dyson (D. St. Mary's, Calvert, Charles) and Del. John Bohanan (D. Lexington Park) have worked for years to bring about commuter rail for the region as growth has choked Rt. 4, Rt. 301, Rt. 5, Rt. 235 and Rt. 210. ST. MARY'S TODAY photo.

By Kenneth C. Rossignol

ST. MARY’S TODAY

LEONARDTOWN (March 25, 2009) ---  Last week, St. Mary’s Commissioner Larry Jarboe (R. Golden Beach), long an advocate of green technology, commuter rail and using alternative energy to wean America off of fossil fuels, pitched a common sense idea that actually got the support of a majority of the of the Board of Commissioners.

Jarboe proposed that the county turn to the federal and state governments to provide stimulus money for St. Mary’s County to build a streetcar line from Charlotte Hall to Pax River.

Jarboe’s desire for a streetcar was backed up by his advocacy of using the county owned railroad right of way, which was given to St. Mary’s County by the federal government in 1973. Jarboe wants to give it back due to the poor stewardship of the old Navy railroad by the county over the years.  The various Boards of Commissioners have doled out over a hundred easements to cross over the line while about 5 percent of the right of way has been eaten up by the State Highway Administration and SMECO. 

Fortunately, all of the right of way which was given to SHA and SMECO can come back, be altered or otherwise aligned to configure a continuous right of way which will get traffic off the highway and onto clean electrically propelled light rail or street cars.

While Commissioner Tommy Mattingly (D. Leonardtown) shills for the developers by approving everything they ask for and opposes all transportation improvements sought by Sen. Roy Dyson (D. St. Mary’s, Calvert, Charles) or his fellow Commissioner Jarboe, Mattingly joined Commissioner Jackie Russell (D. St. George’s Island) in failing to sign the letter from the Board to Congressman Steny Hoyer (D. Md. 5^th). 

Commissioners Dan Raley (D. Great Mills) and Kenny Dement (R. Piney Point) joined Jarboe in signing the letter to Hoyer asking for stimulus money to build a street car line.

Hoyer, who also supports bringing commuter rail to Southern Maryland on the existing CSX tracks which lead from the MARC main line between Baltimore and Washington south into Charles County, has taken several steps over the years to advance the day when commuters can count on trains as well as buses to connect with the rest of the state and the metro area.

In 1996 Hoyer landed $2 million for a study of commuter rail in the Rt. 210 Indian Head Highway  corridor and in 2003 sent his senior assistant, John Bohanan, to meetings with CSX officials and also with legislators and former Comptroller William Donald Schaefer.

In 2006, Hoyer joined Gov. Martin O’Malley and Southern Maryland legislators for a photo session in Waldorf at the CSX tracks to focus on a joint commitment to turn to commuter rail to unclog area traffic arteries, which often are tied up all at the same time.

In 1998 Sen. Dyson sponsored and passed legislation requiring the Maryland Department of Transportation to conduct a feasibility study on preserving the railroad right of way leading to Pax River for future light rail use.  Dyson also passed over the veto of Governor Robert Ehrlich, a bill authorizing a study of all transportation alternatives for Southern Maryland.

Republicans such as Del. Tony O’Donnell (Lusby) opposed the Dyson transportation study claiming that the state already possessed all the knowledge of what should be done but their position was really all about petty politics.

The Maryland DOT feasibility study was conducted in 1999 and recommended the preservation of the right of way and emphatically urged that the St. Mary’s Commissioners not allow any further easements across the rail bed.

After several recent easements to developers such as at Wildewood, Dyson became alarmed at the continued purposeful degradation of the railroad right of way and submitted a bill which would prevent the St. Mary’s Board from granting further easements. 

Jarboe was the only Board member signing a letter supporting Dyson’s bill.

Senator Dyson told ST. MARY’S TODAY that he appreciated Jarboe’s support and his idea for establishing a street car or light rail line from Charlotte Hall to Pax River is compatible with the overall goal of using rail for commuter use in Southern Maryland.

“We have a heavily traveled interstate highway with Rt. 301 and it is also a regional highway and the corridor is also a local traffic connector,” said Dyson. “With it running parallel to the CSX tracks from Morgantown to Bowie, it’s a natural to use those existing tracks for MARC trains and move people from cars to rail.  Establishing a Charlotte Hall to Pax River commuter line is part of the solution and right now we have some officials who are only part of the problem.”

At Tuesday night’s public forum there was enthusiastic support for the multi-use of the right of way from residents of St. Mary’s County who absolutely love the new hiking and biking opportunities on the railroad right of way.

Jim Swift; told the Board, thank you for your support on the Three Notch Trail, with about 10 people here tonight to speak in favor of your action to expand the trail, for putting phase six of the trail into a higher priority than before, from New Market to Rt. 5. It was the missing link in the trail system so we can have an eleven mile stretch. The DOT transportation is going to prioritizes the missing links, after we are finished with that eleven miles we will have a better recreation facility, a high quality item, it will enhance security but I know there is concern, but once the trail is developed we will have landscaping, good sight lines and the sheriff can patrol it., the other aspect I see is that light rail is in the works and rails and trails can coexist., In Montgomery County at the Purple Line and the Metro Branch both feature compatible rails and trails.

Jarboe then told the audience, “The majority of the board did today sign off on a letter to Congressman Hoyer to bring us in light rail today.”

Swift said that the trolley and the trail are certainly compatible.

Jarboe replied, “it will help funnel state and federal dollars to our county”.

Jarboe said later that using stimulus money for planning for commuter rail not only would serve to move people back and forth to Pax River but would take about half of the population of the county who live along the Rt. 235 / Rt. 5 corridor and put them in easy distance of the commercial shopping area of the county from Wildewood to Lexington Park. 

“Business would get a real boost from easy access to light rail or trolley stops,” said Jarboe. “We will have compatible use of the railroad right of way by hikers, bikers, the electric lines for SMECO above ground, the underground lines of natural gas and clean and efficient trolleys moving people back and forth without the building air pollution problem by even more vehicles on the highway.  I hope that Congressman Hoyer acts to bring smart transportation to the county, smart growth policies without smart transportation is just dumb.”