Commuter Lot Funds Are on Hold

State Officials Cite Budget Cuts

Even though ridership on commuter buses to the District has increased more than 15 percent in the past year, Calvert County must wait for a new park-and-ride lot and improvements to another lot.

State transportation officials broke that news to the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday as they discussed a consolidated transportation plan, which when finalized will be submitted with the governor's budget to the General Assembly.

Diane H. Ratcliff, director of the Maryland Transit Administration's planning office, said the department is waiting for permits, landscaping details and temporary spaces for the Prince Frederick lot and is looking for a place to build a Dunkirk lot, she said.

Budget cuts mean that only one of the projects can move ahead this year, she said. The other must wait until 2010.

Commissioners President Wilson H. Parran (D-Huntingtown) said the state was supposed to improve the county's biggest commuter lot in Prince Frederick years ago, but the work has not started.

"It has been pretty close to six years since this thing started, and it is disappointing that the money is not in this year to finish this lot up," he said. "To me, it should have been a higher priority to the state."

The commissioners also learned that state highway officials are considering using the parking lot at Chesapeake Church in Huntingtown for commuter parking. They said traffic conditions at the church are even more unsafe than those at a bowling alley on Plum Point Road that was closed in 2003 and a lot at Dunkirk Baptist Church, which was rejected by the state for commuter parking because it had no signalized intersection.

"I fail to see if those two places didn't work why this one would," said Commissioner Linda L. Kelley (R-At Large).

"The reality is had your staff talked to us about this temporary lot, we would have told you that you could hardly find a less safe place," Commissioner Susan Shaw (R-Huntingtown) told the state officials.

A sheriff's deputy is posted at Chesapeake Church during large services to direct traffic and try to ensure safety. The county has been involved in a dispute with the church over the safety of entrances and exits onto Route 2/4.

Because of reduced revenue from taxes, the state announced in September that $1.1 billion was to be cut from the six-year transportation plan, essentially removing all new projects except those required for safety reasons, said Beverley K. Swaim-Staley, the state's deputy transportation secretary.

About $200 million is available for new projects and $250 million for maintenance, Swaim-Staley said. Although funding has been reduced, Calvert should get its fair share, she said.

A second round of reductions is expected before the transportation program is submitted to the legislature in January, she said.

Some projects, including Thomas Johnson Bridge and widening Route 2/4 in Prince Frederick to six lanes, will continue with early engineering phases, said Neil Pedersen, state highway administrator. Future work will be held up until more funding is available, he said.