Md. Delays Portion of Connector Project

"What else will Maryland be able to afford after it pays for the ICC?" Smith asked. "The answer is less and less."

The intercounty connector's financing plan calls for $750 million worth of so-called GARVEE bonds. The debt service on those bonds is expected to consume 10 to 15 percent of Maryland's federal highway funding over the next 12 years, state officials said.

The debt plan was placed in doubt after U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced Sept. 5 that payments to states would be rationed until Congress shored up the federal trust fund.

Maryland's financing problems are compounded because, like the federal government, the state largely depends on gas tax revenue for transportation funding. As gas prices soared this year, motorists drove less and bought less gas.

At the same time, Maryland officials said they are being squeezed by sharply rising road-building costs. Prices of diesel fuel and some construction materials have jumped as much as 300 percent over the past five years, industry officials say.

Maryland highway officials said those costs were largely responsible for the latest connector contract -- to build a seven-mile segment through northern Silver Spring -- coming in at $559.7 million, or 22 percent, more than the highest estimate.

The east-west toll road is to run between the Interstate 270 corridor in Gaithersburg and the Route 1 corridor in Laurel.

The part of the project that is being delayed indefinitely involves building three miles of service roads along I-95 north of the connector in Prince George's. The service roads are designed to help move traffic on and off I-95 after an interchange is built about a mile north of the connector. The work, to cost $60 million to $75 million, also entails resurfacing five miles of I-95.

Neil J. Pedersen, the state highway administrator, said the service roads can be delayed until the I-95 interchange has been built at Contee Road. Its construction hasn't been scheduled. Delaying that portion of the project won't prevent the entire highway from being open in 2012, Pedersen said.

John Erzen, a spokesman for Prince George's Executive Jack B. Johnson (D), said county officials are concerned about delays in road projects that would help attract economic development to the area. Erzen said Johnson was already "very disappointed" to learn Wednesday that Maryland planned to cut $125 million worth of Prince George's projects as part of an effort to trim the state's six-year transportation budget. The amount cut in Prince George's was among the biggest in the state.

"We know cuts have to be made," Erzen said, "but the thing that concerns us most is it seems very disproportionate compared to other counties."

Porcari said the state will wait until the president signs the $8 billion funding package before rescheduling the bond sale, perhaps within two weeks. The postponement was first publicized yesterday in the Bond Buyer newspaper.