Transportation Bill

Even engineers can make a mistake. Last month, the American Society of Civil Engineers released a study of U.S. transportation needs and found that the country's failure to invest sufficiently in roads, bridges, rail and other infrastructure is going to reduce personal income by $930 billion by 2020 but might recover slightly by 2040. Turns out, that was wildly inaccurate. After returning to the drawing board and scrutinizing the issue more closely, the engineers came out with a more complete accounting of the consequences of the deteriorating network.

Washington -- After decades of pro-highway, anti-transit policies that skewer cities and waste energy, official Washington seems finally to have done something right.Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.

Taking the first step in grappling with what could become one of the most difficult issues of the 2013 General Assembly, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller introduced a bill Monday night that would raise hundreds of millions of dollars for transportation projects and shift the more of the burden of financing transit projects to Baltimore and the urban counties. Miller's proposed legislation is expected to be the starting point for discussions with Gov. Martin O'Malley, who has advocated tax increases to pay for transportation but has not submitted a plan this year.

CHICAGO - President Bush signed the $286.5 billion transportation bill yesterday, saying it would ease traffic congestion throughout the United States, create hundreds of thousands of jobs and impose stricter vehicular safety standards that will save lives. But critics said the legislation was stuffed with unnecessary and expensive projects that benefited only members of Congress seeking hometown support. Maryland will receive $2.9 billion in highway funding and more than $900 million in designated mass transit funding.

WASHINGTON - After nearly two years of political gridlock, congressional negotiators reached agreement yesterday on a $286.5 billion highway and mass transit spending bill aimed at providing relief from everybody's favorite gripe: traffic congestion. The bill slightly exceeds the $284 billion that President Bush had set as his spending limit, but the White House is expected to avoid a veto showdown with the Republican-controlled Congress over the popular bill. Deficit hawks have pressed Bush to make the highway bill a test of his pledge to clamp down on spending.

Two House committees approved an increase in the state's vehicle registration fees yesterday, but excised other key revenue-producing components, including surcharges on fines for moving violations and drunken driving. The slimmed-down version of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s transportation revenue package, expected to face a close vote on the House floor, could build pressure for a gas tax increase. The Environmental Matters Committee voted 14-7 for the bill, while the margin in the Ways and Means Committee was 12-8.

THE LARGEST federal transportation funding program ever, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, is known by its acronym ISTEA. That's pronounced "iced tea," which in Washington gets served with great gobs of sweetener.Questions that may, unfortunately, delay this legislation deep into May don't center on where the money comes from or why, but rather on how much and who gets it.Thanks to some muscle applied by U.S. Sens. Paul S. Sarbanes and Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland would receive 1.58 percent of the outlay in the $214 billion Senate bill approved yesterday.

Baltimore's "people mover" project -- a proposed three-mile monorail from Camden Station to Canton -- has received preliminary funding from Congress, allowing studies and designs proceed.The authorization is included in $28 million that will be granted directly to the city through the recently passed six-year federal transportation bill. Among the transportation projects authorized are $13.2 million to replace city traffic signals and $10.9 million for road improvements in the city's Empowerment Zone.

There had to be some drama at the end. The 2013 General Assembly session, in a marked contrast to the train wreck that was the 2012 edition, moved toward its conclusion Monday as a model of efficiency and cooperation. For once, the kids weren't waiting until the night before to do their homework, having wrapped up virtually all of the major issues by Friday. And then came the speed camera bill. After a series of reports in The Sun about erroneous tickets given to motorists in Baltimore City (including one case of a car ticketed for speeding while stopped at a red light)