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O'Malley Takes Strong
Stand on House Veto
Override of Southern Maryland Transportation Bill
By Kenneth C. Rossignol
ST. MARY'S TODAY
ANNAPOLIS --- Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, the favorite to be the Democratic nominee for Governor of Maryland, who, one year from now may be sitting in the Governor's Office, says Southern Maryland's transportation needs deserves a comprehensive review as called for in the Transportation Study Bill which was vetoed by Governor Bob Ehrlich.
The bill was the subject of a veto override on Jan. 13th by the State Senate and is pending a similar vote in the House of Delegates tomorrow.
“Southern Maryland deserves a thorough and fair look given the region’s urgent transportation needs, and I strongly support the effort to move our state forward by overriding Governor Ehrlich’s veto," O'Malley told ST. MARY'S TODAY.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Roy Dyson (D. St. Mary's, Calvert, Charles), Sen. Mac Middleton (D. Charles) and Sen. Mike Miller (D. Calvert, Prince George's) calls for a study of all transportation issues; bridges, commuter rail, commuter buses, highway and ferries. The bill sets up the study commission to include local elected officials and puts an 18-month deadline on solutions to be proposed to the General Assembly for action in order to deal with the monumental, daily, traffic jams on Rt. 301/ Rt. 5 corridor, the Rt. 2/4 corridor leading from St. Mary's, through Calvert County, into Anne Arundel and then winding up through Prince George's County to the Beltway.
The daily backups at the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge at Solomon's and the Governor Harry Nice Bridge at Morgantown would also be viewed with an eye to adding additional spans at both crossings.
The Gov. Nice Bridge carries Rt. 301, the only north / south artery to parallel Interstate 95 which travels across the congested Woodrow Wilson Bridge from Maryland across the Potomac River to Virginia. The Nice Bridge was opened in 1940 and is built with only one lane in each direction. The toll plaza was changed about 8 years ago to collect tolls in only one direction to cut down on tie-ups but even that improvement fails to eliminate the daily tie-ups as the four-lane road slows to the two-lane bridge.
The Gov. Johnson Bridge at Solomon's opened in 1977 and was closed by the State of Maryland for two months in 1988 when concerns about the structural integrity of the bridge were caused by cracking at the top of the tall support piers.
The piers were wrapped with large steel bands to hold them together while traffic came to a screeching halt. The tepid response of the State Department of Transportation was to send a half dozen hired boats which carried from 20 to 40 people at a time, to traverse the Patuxent River. After the steel bands were applied as an aid to the towering concrete piers, the bridge was reopened.
Local legend has it that a man can swim through holes near the base of the concrete columns but the strong current would likely prevent a diver from being able to verify that claim, a claim that most drivers would prefer to not think about when crossing the soaring span.
Dyson sponsored and the General Assembly passed a feasibility study of preserving the old U. S. Navy railroad right-of-way which is owned by the St. Mary's County Commissioners. The study by the Maryland Department of Transportation recommended that the right-of-way be saved for future commuter rail use.
The Ehrlich Administration, instead of preserving the right-of-way, seized approximately a mile of the rail bed to use for the Hughesville by-pass, a thirty-year-old proposal it decided to fund, despite the disruption to the rail right of way and the dying town the bypass misses. Rt. 5 could have simply been widened through Hughesville and the useless tobacco warehouses bulldozed, saving land and a lot of money.
The GOP governor recently came to Hughesville to dedicate an overpass which crosses a highway which isn't yet built, and the attendant publicity likely outdid the opening fanfare of the Bay Bridge in 1954.
The
Southern Maryland delegates being counted upon by the chief House supporter,
Del. John Bohanan (D. Lexington Park) are Del. Murray Levy (D. Cobb Island);
Del. Sally Jameson (D. Hughesville), Del. Sue Kullen (D. Owings), Del. Joe
Vallario (D. Clinton) and Del. Jim Proctor (D. Clinton).
Two Republican delegates who voted for the bill in the General Assembly last
year but now oppose it are Del. Danny Mayer of Charles and Del. Tony
O'Donnell of Calvert. While the Republicans supported the bill, they
now argue to sustain the Governor's veto, saying that they trust the State
and the Tri-County Council to use a $100,000 grant to do the same study.
"Last year, in arguing against the bill, the State DOT said the study would
cost more than $800,000," Del. Jameson told ST. MARY'S TODAY last week.
Jameson said she would work hard to override the Governor's veto, saying
that what the state last year said would cost so much would likely produce
very little this year at the new slimmer price estimate. "Our problems are
serious and deserve the highest priority the state can produce, not too
little too late."
Del. John Wood (D. Mechanicsville) when asked by ST. MARY'S TODAY how he would vote, refused to commit himself on the override and declared that he would look at the proposal being made by the State DOT to give a grant to Tri-County Council.
At
last week's meeting with TCC and at the Southern Maryland delegation
meeting, Wood argued against the override of the Governor's veto, despite
his own vote last year in support of the bill. The Rt. 235 / Rt. 5
corridor and the railroad right-of-way run directly through Wood's district.
Wood said in the meeting he didn't support the override. Wood was
dismissed as a committee chairman three years ago by Speaker Michael Busch
and his diminished role shows up in less fundraising each year at his annual
bull roast as well as his influence in Annapolis.
"We have the votes to override this veto and will do so tomorrow," Del.
Bohanan told ST. MARY'S TODAY from Annapolis on Monday night. "The
Governor's office told the Speaker's Office today that they have the votes
to sustain the veto, that's why they can't get legislation passed, they
can't count."