With the state budget still on the ropes because of revenue shortfalls, Gov. Martin O'Malley is proposing a new round of budget cuts to take to the Board of Public Works. Transportation, once again, will take a licking, along with most every other area of state spending.

From what I can see, this list will translate into such things as higher grass and more litter along state highways, longer lines at the MVA and bathrooms at BWI that aren't cleaned quite as frequently. On the other hand, there's probably oother spending in here that won't be missed at all.

Here are some of the specifics, just as the GGovernor's Office described them:

Department of Transportation

The Secretary's Office

• Reduce per diem payments, operating costs for utilities, advertising,
  building maintenance, public service announcements, consultant
  services and contractual services.                                                      $133,500
• InformationTechnology--Reduce maintenance contracts, delay upgrade projects, delay ability to build out additional fiber for MDOT network, reduce training
  opportunities, reduce contractor services for FMIS operations and
  maintenance that mirror State mandated closings, limit funds for travel,
  delay rollout of Clarity application for project management.                  $2,200,000
• State Highway Administration Reduce mowing costs, litter pickup costs, spraying, maintenance,
  sweeping cycles, pavement repair, joint filling, line striping, highway
  lighting maintenance, and consultant services.                                   $14,728,467
• Maryland Port Administration Eliminate clerical PIN, reduce legal support, tuition reimbursements, cell phone costs, travel, motor vehicle maintenance and lease costs,
  advertising, equipment rentals and repairs, janitorial services, security
  services, training, trash removal, software maintenance contracts,
  stevedoring contract, office supplies, and maintenance.                           $ 8,124,553
• Motor Vehicle Administration--Reduce overtime, contractual and temporary staff, telephone costs,postage, equipment repairs, extermination, janitorial, laundry, eliminate
  vehicle replacement, delay central Issuance program, reduce use of
  MSP troopers at select locations, reduce MDP fees for VEIP.                       $4,109,195
• Maryland Aviation Administration--Reduce janitorial, BWI security, consultants, telephone costs, postagecosts, travel, utilities, software purchases, hardware maintenance,
  supplies, subscriptions, dues, rent, grants to non-government entities.        $8,296,217

Posted by Michael Dresser at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: For policy wonks only
        

The Washington Examiner reports that the Montgomery County Council is asking the Maryland Transportation Authority to back off its plans for charging tolls on the Intercounty Connector in line with what the authority's consultant figures the market will bear.

The Council is also asking the authority to phase in a $3 fee for those who use the tollroad without an E-ZPass -- a charge intended to cover the extra cost of billing vehicles on the basis of license plate photos for use of the tollbooth-free road. On top of that, it wants a subsisized commuter rate that is at odds with the plan to use toll rates to eliminate congestion on the ICC.

These ideas certainly sound good to Montgomery County elected officials because they are nothing more than an added subsidy for use of a road that is already heavily subsidized. The problem, from a Baltimore point of view, is that an additional subsidy for the ICC means it will generate less revenue than expected. That means a greater share of the debt service on its bonds will have to be paid out of some other revenue stream.

There aren't a whole lot of other places for the authority to look for that revenue. Maryland now has seven toll facilities. None is anywhere close to Montgomery County. Except for one, the U.S. 301 bridge over the Potomac River, they are all located entirely or partly in the Baltimore region. (The Bay Bridge, the two Susquehanna River Bridges, the Francis Scott Key Bridge, shown above, and the two Baltimore Harbor tunnels.)

So if the authority gives ICC users a break, it's going to have to do so by socking users of those other facilities just a little harder when the next toll increase comes up in  2011-2012. There's really no way around it: The bond rating agencies are expecting a revenue increase in a certain range. If the authority wimps out about imposing sufficient toll increases to generate that revenue, Maryland risks a credit downgrade. That would cost us all  in future borrowing.

I can understand the Montgomery Council seeking a break for its constituents, who will likely be the most frequent users of the ICC. What I can't understand is why we aren't hearing an outcry from elected officials from the Baltimore region, the Eastern Shore and Southern Maryland warning the authority against shifting ICC costs to the people they represent.

 Users of Baltimore-area toll facilities are already paying a premium on their tolls to help build the ICC. Don't hit us with more of the bill because  the very people who begged the state to build the ICC are now shocked at the price tag.

Sun photo

Posted by Michael Dresser at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Maryland toll facilities
        

AAA is forecasting a 1.4 percent increase in Thanksgiving travel over last year's recession-battered holiday, pointing to what appears to be a modest improvement in economic activity.

According to AAA, about 38.4 million Americans will travel more than 50 miles from home between next Wednesday and the Sunday after the hoiliday. Travel by automobile is expected to increase by 2.1 percent to 33.2 milllion.

But air travel is expected to be off by 6.6 percent. Air travel is expected to account for only 6 percent of Thanksgiving travel, continuing a downward trend that has persisted for a decade.

Posted by Michael Dresser at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: On the roads
        

CSX played host Tuesday as up to 150 first responders from fire departments throughout the region took part in drills simulating several disaster scenarios at the railroad's Washington Boulevard rail yard.

A Baltimore Fire Department spokesman, Capt.  Kevin Cartwright, said oorganizers were pleased with the "fluid" response of the multiple agencies that participated in the train wreck simulation.

Firefighterrs fromBaltimore, Anne  Arundel, Howard, Harford, Carroll and Cecil countiies joined thhose from the cities of Baltimore and Annapolis in the practice session. Cartwright said the first responders dealt with scenarios including an engineer trapped in a locomotive who needed extraction, a chlorine leak, a liquid propane gas release and an ethanol spill.

About 150 observers were on hand from the Environmental Protection Agency Region III Emergency Preparedness and Prevention & Hazmat Spills Conference, now taking place at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Also there was The Sun's Algerina Perna, who took video of the exercise.

Cartwright said the drill went well. "Everyone was pleased -- especially EPA and CSX," he said.

Posted by Michael Dresser at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Amtrak/intercity railroads
        

Are you one of those unlucky souls who will be leaving the Baltimore area by car about midday the Wednesday before Thanksgiving for a family gathering?

Is your destination someplace truly grueling  to reach at peak times such as Long Island, northern  New Jersey or Connecticut? Or, perhaps, Richmond, Raleigh or Charlotte?

Would you be willing to stay in contact by phone or email and describe your ordeal for this blog and an article in the Baltimore Sun?

We'd like to evaluate the different routes and strategies people can employ when they can't avoid the peak hours. If you're willing to participate, please drop a line to michael.dresser@baltsun.com. Make the subject line Travel so it stands out from the spam? Thanks.

Posted by Michael Dresser at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: On the roads
        

The Dixon administration is expected to bring two contracts before the Board of Estimates Wednesday cementing its 2-year-old accord with CSX under which the railroad will pay roughly three-quarters of the cost of replacing two of the city’s most deteriorated bridges.

After years of wrangling, the city and CSX reached agreement in principle on the formula for paying for the replacement of the Fort Avenue and Sinclair Lane bridges in Oct. 2007. But it has taken two years to work out details.

The delay, according to city deputy transportation director Jamie Kendrick, was the result of “a thousand details and lots of lawyers but other than that it was easy.”

Under the contracts, which CSX has already signed, the railroad will pay 75 percent of the construction costs and 100 percnet of the engineering costs on the Fort Avenue bridge. The city willl contribute the other quarter of the building costs.

That bridge was the subject of public protests by a Locust Point woman named Karen Johns (above), who became well-known in the city as ‘The Bridge Lady.” Johns badgered elected officials to put pressure on CSX to replace the visibly crumbling bridge, which was built in 1920 and scored 36 points out of 100 – a failing grade -- on a recent inspection.

Sun photo/Kim Hairston

Continue reading "Baltimore, CSX finalize agreement on bridges" »

Posted by Michael Dresser at 5:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: On the roads
        

The Maryland Transportation Authority has retained its coveted Aa3 rating by Moody's as it prepares to sell abbout $532 billion in bonds to hellp finance the Intercounty Connector and other projects.

Moody's pointed to the authority's long history of financial stability and to its independent board's ability and willingness  to raise tolls when needed.

In the bond rater's estimation, Maryland tolls remain "relatively low."

The good news: Moody's predicts the authority will be able to keep up its "strong financial profile" and reliable debt service.

The bad news: "Key to the forecast are assumed toll rate increases of 48% in 2012 and 23% in 2014. "

Posted by Michael Dresser at 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Maryland toll facilities
        

After the experience of going through this week's nor'easter with just one bridge to the mainland, Ocean Mayor Rick Meehan said he's going to ask the State Highway Administration to add a second span to the Route 90 bridge (above).

The current bridge, which feeds into the barrier island at 60th Street, has been shut down last month for emergency repairs (below) to an eroded girder.

Adding a new two-lane bridge to supplement the existing span would be a very expensive project, and given the woes of the state transportation budget, the mayor may have a long wait ahead.

SHA spokesman Dave Buck said there are no plans in the works to add capacity to the Route 90 bridge, which at about 35 years old is a relative youngster in infrastructure terms. Buck noted that Worcester County already has some other big-ticket items higher on its priority list, including the rehabilitation or replacement of the U.S. 50 bridge, which is 66 years old and showing its age. If replacement is the option selected, that could be a $500 million project, he said.

                                                                         State Highway Administration photo                   

Posted by Michael Dresser at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: On the roads
        

Since Oct. 1, state law has allowed Baltimore and other local jurisdictions to install speed cameras in school zones and to issue $40 tickets based on photographic evidence that vehicles were exceeding the speed limit by 12 mph or more.

 So Scott Levitan of Baltimore had this inquiry:

Since the City is stepping up enforcement of speed cameras in school
zones, could someone please clarify when school zones end?  School zone
signs post the commencement of the zone, but there is no sign posted to
indicate the termination.

I asked Jamie Kendrick, deputy director of the city's Department of Transportation, about this. Kendrick confirmed that it is not the city's practice to post "End School Zone" signs. That, he said, would be tantamount to posting a sign saying "Speed Up." Not only would it be a considerable expense, he noted, it would add visual clutter to the landscape.

Kendrick said the prudent course for drivers is to assume that if they're in the city, they are in a school zone. The state speed camera law defines the zones as being within a half-mile of a school. In Baltimore, that translates to roughly 86 percent of the city's land mass, he said. (See map above.)

So really, there are might few areas of the city where you can make like a NASCAR driver with any confidence you'll get away with it. You coould try the industrial Fairfield peninsula, but chances are you'd tear out your undercarriage on the roads down there. You could try Broening Highway, down by the marine terminals, but the Maryland Transportation Authority Police keep a close eye on speeders down that way. And unlike the city police, they're unlikely to be distracted by the homicide(s) du jour.  North Charles Street above Cold Spring looks to be camera-free, but there are generally plenty of cops out on that main drag.

So Kendrick advises that if you see a school zone sign, "slow down and stay slowed down."

Of course, if you're  on a two-way street, the end of the zone will be marked by a school zone sign pointing in the other direction. You could just keep glancing over your shoulder to tell when you've reached that point, but somehow that doesn't seem to be a great idea.

If you want to know where speed cameras are actually posted, here's a link to the city's locations:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-cameramap0924,0,675233.htmlpage

And if it's Baltimore County that interests you, here's another:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/bal-baltoco-cameras,0,6219578.htmlpage

Posted by Michael Dresser at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

A colleague who works nights encountered a change in her commute  home and wondered what brought it about:

At one time you could turn right on red onto northbound Charles from westbound Mount Royal. Now you cannot do that. The two right lanes or so of Charles north of Mount Royal are torn up now with roadwork. But before that happened, the light was changed so that the two lanes of Mount Royal continuing west across Charles get a green light, while the two right-turning lanes still have a red light.

Is it this way because of the construction? Could (it be OK) to turn right on red after a certain time (7 p.m. seems most common)? Could the light be programmed to allow all the traffic to move thru the intersection at some time if it’s not safe to do so earlier in the day? Thanks. Any light you can shed on this will be appreciated.

Those questions were posed to Kathy Chopper, spokeswoman for the city Department of Transportation, who had this explanation:

At one time, motorists were able to make right turns onto Charles from westbound Mount Royal, but that traffic pattern was recently changed.  The City of Baltimore worked with the University to adjust signal timing and eliminate right turns on red at that intersection due to the heavy amount of pedestrian traffic. 

 The right turns on red were eliminated to provide enough time for pedestrians to cross in a safe manner.  These changes were not related to the construction that is taking place in the area.

My question would be how many pedestrians there are to protect around midnight, when my colleage passes through the intersection.

Posted by Michael Dresser at 6:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: On the roads