September 13, 2009|By Larry Carson | Larry Carson,larry.carson@baltsun.com
Hoping to speed long lines of northbound commuters who slow to a crawl each afternoon on the last two-lane section of U.S. 29 near Columbia, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman has made the long-anticipated road widening his top highway priority in his annual letter to state transportation officials.
Ulman also wants the state to move forward on safety studies for Route 32 near River Road in the Sykesville area, where a mother and son were killed in an accident this summer, along with widening Route 32 west from Route 108 and also eastbound near Interstate 95. Then there's the widening of Interstate 70 between the Baltimore County line and the merger with U.S. 40, a new intersection at U.S. 1 and Route 175, and more.
The problem is all those projects are easy to support but hard to pay for, especially if widening U.S. 29 means that sound walls must be added from the Patuxent River north to Route 175. Sound walls could make the project prohibitively expensive, Ulman said, even if the state had the money for the third lane. Prospects for more state money are slim, since elected officials aren't likely to increase the gasoline tax or vehicle registration fees, the major sources for transportation funding, in an election year - particularly with another large state budget shortfall looming.
The only major financial help Ulman can expect this year, state officials said, is federal stimulus money to pay for more Howard Transit hybrid buses and some repaving along U.S. 29, but no widening.
Erin Henson, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, said $5 million of federal stimulus money is available for repaving existing portions of U.S. 29 from the Patuxent River north to Broken Land Parkway, in the same area where the widening will eventually occur, and for safety improvements.
"We are not adding any new projects" because of the state's fiscal crisis, she said. The state cut $4.4 million in fiscal 2010 funding from the U.S. 29 project in the latest round of cost reductions. The entire project cost is listed at $44.5 million in the state's capital program.
Henson said there will be $2.2 million in federal funds for two full-size hybrid Howard Transit buses and two smaller paratransit vehicles, but those funds can't be shifted to highways.
Ulman said the county is prepared to contribute to the U.S. 29 widening using excise tax money collected from developers for that purpose, but the county can't do it alone.
Maryland Department of Transportation officials are due to explain their plans and budget constraints at an annual appearance in Howard County at 7 p.m. Thursday at school board headquarters on Route 108. Howard is the first stop on the annual tour of all 24 of Maryland's jurisdictions.
Democratic picnic
Labor Day brought the annual Howard County Democratic Party picnic at Cedar Lane Park and with it rhetoric of dismay at how the party's hero, President Barack Obama, is being treated by the loyal opposition.
While hoping for an easy re-election next year for Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley, Ulman and other incumbent Democrats, party Chairman Michael McPherson said he is not happy with reaction to Obama's health care reform initiative or with attacks on his speech to the nation's schoolchildren.
County school Superintendent Sydney L. Cousin was also criticized for allowing individual school principals to decide whether to broadcast the speech, in which the president urged students to stay in school and work hard at their studies.
McPherson said Cousin's policy "to me is a cop-out," and the furor over the speech was "ridiculous."
"It's a national silly season we find ourselves in these days," he said, "with the party of 'no' talking about death panels" and finding any excuse to criticize Obama, while ignoring "the mess they put us in the last eight years."
School board member Patricia Gordon told the group of about 70 people that she doesn't think the criticism of Obama's speech is silly. "I think it's really, really serious. That is our president. This is the head of the most important nation in the world," she said. Children should see and hear what he has to say, she said. Speaking on Monday, the day before the speech, she urged the party faithful to e-mail Cousin and other school board members to protest.
McPherson's Republican counterpart, GOP Chairwoman Joan Becker, said later that her party isn't the only group objecting to specific health care reform proposals or the growing deficit.
"We've got 12 buses going to Washington" over the weekend, she said, to join a national "tea party" tax protest rally hosted by Fox television commentator Glenn Beck. Republicans and some Democrats and independents object to Obama's plans too, she said.
"He's going too fast," she said.
The Democrats' mood at the picnic when it came to local affairs was different.
Despite the recession's pressures, Ulman said, "I couldn't be more happy" about the state the county is in, particularly in comparison with other places.
"Despite the fact that there are tough times, we are so immensely fortunate to be in Howard County. We're doing well as a community," he said, making progress on environmental and health issues while slightly bolstering money for nonprofits that help the poor.
"What's there not to be happy about?" he said.
