By Elizabeth Abraham
ST. MARY’S TODAY
   LEONARDTOWN (May 29, 2007) - Restoring a Southern Maryland ferry service is among the many transportation ideas the St. Mary’s Board of County Commissioners entertained last Tuesday, even though Board President Jack Russell (D. St. George’s Island) said it would be “light years away” before anything happens.

   Russell pitched the ferry idea during the Board’s discussion of an annual letter to Maryland Department of Transportation Secretary John Pocari detailing the county’s road project wish list.

   “With a bridge at least 15 years off, we’re in a state of modified gridlock now,” Russell said of the daily traffic stoppages and crashes throughout the county. “Let’s really mix it up good and get the ferry service back again.”

   In the past, the idea of a ferry service to alleviate traffic was rejected because property owners in the vicinity objected to the extra traffic.

   Commissioners were at the same time Tuesday discussing the wording of a second letter on transportation projects to the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland. Both letters were drafted by George Erichsen, the county’s Public Works and Transportation director.

   On the topic of a new bridge, Commissioner Tom Mattingly (D. Leonardtown) expressed concerns that the project has grown too large. It is being combined with plans to widen Rt. 4 and St. Andrews Church Road and redesigning the Rt. 4-Rt. 235 intersection.

   Mattingly also directed Erichsen to rework a paragraph concerning the Rt. 5 Hughesville Bypass. He questioned why it would be even included, being that it’s nearing completion, and in a different county.

   Commissioner Larry Jarboe (R. Golden Beach) pointed out that the proposed widening of Rt. 5 near Point Lookout has been on the list for more than a decade. He said that with the 150th anniversary of the Civil War approaching that many people will want to go to Point Lookout.

   Commissioner Dan Raley (D. Great Mills) also expressed his disappointment at the lack of commitment to fix Rt. 5 near Point Lookout, and refused to provide his signature on the letter to Pocari.

   The other four commissioners voted to support the letters.

   Erichsen’s letter to the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland declares that the Hughesville Bypass and the Thomas Johnson Bridge projects have priority over other St. Mary’s transportation issues.

   The proposal for ferry service was not addressed in either of the letters, but Russell, a skipjack captain himself, said he will pitch the idea to Maryland transportation officials planning to visit the county in July.