Transportation Secretary

It's the dirtiest eight-letter word in the English language: dredging. But what extra lanes are to highways, what runways are to airports, dredging is to ports.Deepening waterways by scooping out sometimes contaminated mud is a complex process, mired in environmental concern and red tape. And maritime interests have long believed that dredging, along with many other waterway issues, takes a back seat with federal transportation officials.Enter Federico F. Pena, former mayor of Denver, whose renown in the transportation world comes from sprucing up airports, not seaports.

Two powerful black legislators are pressuring the Schaefer administration to change the terms of a new, lucrative auto emissions testing contract so that a black-run Bethesda firm has a better chance of winning the bid.The lawmakers claim they only want to give Envirotest Systems Corp., the company that currently runs the state's tailpipe testing program, a fair chance at retaining its contract.But in an internal memorandum released yesterday, a high-ranking transportation department official claims the legislators have threatened "trouble for the department" unless the agency substantially alters the procurement process in favor of the incumbent.

Maryland transportation officials are trying to improve service to the public, a move that could increase legislative support for higher taxes on motorists.Under a new reorganization plan, the Department of Transportation is eliminating 50 vacant jobs and shifting about 100 employees from its headquarters in northern Anne Arundel County to various offices that deal more directly with the public.The department needs to clean house before expecting state legislators to agree to higher taxes, said Deputy Transportation Secretary Stephen G. Zentz.

Score a victory for cyclists but a loss for some train riders, motorists and handicapped people.While delaying various highway, rail and handicapped access projects for lack of money, the Maryland Department of Transportation plans to spend $2.7 million to build a hiking and bicycling trail in northern Anne Arundel County.A draft blueprint of state transportation projects for the next six .. years calls for building a trail around Baltimore-Washington International Airport but delaying almost $1.7 billion worth of work on 66 major projects.

ANNAPOLIS -- Members of a task force set up to review Maryland's transportation revenue problems agreed last night that the state faces a serious shortfall, but could not agree what to do about it.The 15-member Transportation Revenue Committee, headed by former state Transportation Secretary William K. Hellmann, could only agree to let Gov. William Donald Schaefer and the 1991 General Assembly decide whether to raise the state's gas tax and by how much.The...

A bill that would increase the fees motorists pay for driver's licenses and vehicle titles appears likely to pass the Maryland Senate, but it could face a rocky road in the House of Delegates.The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee passed the bill yesterday, and its chairman, Sen. Laurence Levitan, D-Montgomery, predicted the legislation will "fly through" the full Senate.The bill would generate $42 million a year for now-stalled highway and other transportation projects by substantially increasing about 60 fees charged by the state Motor Vehicle Administration.

The Maryland Transportation Authority, pinched by the need to lend money for the Baltimore area's light-rail line, is restructuring its bond payments, driving up interest costs by an estimated $43 million.State transportation officials said today that as much as $20 million of the unexpected borrowing costs are attributable to the light-rail project, which already has been hit by budget overruns.State legislators learned yesterday that the transportation authority is restructuring its bond payments to stretch some of them out over 15 years, driving up interest costs.

ANNAPOLIS -- The incoming state secretary of transportation said yesterday that his agency will need from $1 billion to $1.5 billion in new revenue over the next five years just to keep from "going backward."That would translate into the equivalent of an increase in the current Maryland gasoline tax of from 8.5 cents to 12.5 cents per gallon. But a governor's panel is also considering several other -- ways to raise new money from motorists for the state's Transportation Trust Fund."The revenue situation right now is critical," said O. JamesLighthizer, the former Anne Arundel County executive named to be the new transportation secretary.

State Secretary of Transportation Richard S. Trainor, whose 3 1/2 -year tenure was marked by sporadic skirmishes with state legislators, has resigned pending his replacement and will become a part-time, paid consultant to the governor.Gov. William Donald Schaefer, who announced Mr. Trainor's resignation in a written statement yesterday, later told reporters that his 61-year-old transportation chief had decided to retire and collect his pensions after more than 41 years with the state and the city of Baltimore.

Citing "severely declining transportation revenues," Gov. William Donald Schaefer announced yesterday that he is suspending the start of new transit projects for 30 to 45 days.Affected by the order, according to Deputy Transportation Secretary Stephen G. Zentz, are about 70 projects -- more than $330 million worth of highway improvements, bridge overhauls and construction work."The unexpected decline in Transportation Trust Fund revenues brought on by the Mideast crisis and current economic conditions have given us no alternative but to suspend these projects," Governor Schaefer said.

President Barack Obama turned to Maryland for another high-level appointment Friday as the White House announced that he intends to name Maryland Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari to the No. 2 position in the U.S. Department of Transportation. In choosing Porcari, Obama has selected one of the few state transportation secretaries whose portfolio includes all the major modes of travel - highways, aviation, mass transit, maritime commerce and rail freight. If he clears the required background checks and is confirmed by the Senate, Porcari would serve as deputy to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Illinois congressman and a Republican.

CLAUDE BRINEGAR, 82 Transportation secretary under Nixon Claude Brinegar, who led an overhaul of the railroad industry and saw the nation through the oil crisis of 1973 as the third U.S. transportation secretary, died Friday of natural causes in Palo Alto, Calif. President Richard M. Nixon nominated Mr. Brinegar to head the Department of Transportation in late 1972. At the time, Mr. Brinegar was a senior vice president at Union Oil Co., where he had worked since 1953. During his tenure as secretary, Mr. Brinegar led efforts to overhaul the collapsed Northeastern railroad industry, ultimately resulting in the creation of Conrail Inc. He served as a founding director of Conrail from 1974 to 1975 and joined the board again from 1990 to 1998.

The State Highway Administration will dedicate its welcome center on Interstate 95 in Howard County to former Gov. Harry R. Hughes next week, honoring a longtime elected official who also was the state's first transportation secretary. Hughes, who is retired and lives in Denton, is expected to attend the ceremony Monday with current Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari, Neil J. Pedersen, the state highway administrator, and current and former legislators. Hughes, an 81-year-old Democrat, was transportation secretary from 1970 to 1977 and governor from 1979 to 1987.

No state funding is available to build road, bus and parking projects around Fort Meade to support the influx of thousands of new workers, the state's transportation secretary told Anne Arundel County officials and lawmakers this week. As the state pushes ahead with widening a 1 1/2 -mile stretch of Baltimore-Washington Parkway near BWI-Marshall Airport and replacing a bridge near National Business Park at the Anne Arundel-Howard County line, there is little money in the six-year capital budget to do anything else but preserve infrastructure in Anne Arundel or statewide.

No state funding is available to build road, bus and parking projects around Fort Meade to support the influx of thousands of new workers, the state's transportation secretary told Anne Arundel County officials and lawmakers this week. As the state pushes ahead with widening a 1 1/2 -mile stretch of Baltimore-Washington Parkway near BWI-Marshall Airport and replacing a bridge near National Business Park at the Anne Arundel-Howard County line, there is little money in the six-year capital budget to do anything else but preserve infrastructure in Anne Arundel or statewide.

Reversing the Ehrlich administration's decision to sell Baltimore's World Trade Center, acting Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari said yesterday that the state will retain ownership of the Inner Harbor tower "for the foreseeable future." Porcari said that upon taking office last month, he began a review of the previous administration's decision to sell the 30-story tower, which is about half-vacant. He said he recommended to Gov. Martin O'Malley that the state keep the property and that O'Malley agreed.

The head of the Maryland Transit Administration yesterday became the second high-ranking transportation agency administrator to step down since the O'Malley administration took office. Lisa L. Dickerson, who was appointed to head the MTA in 2004, will serve as administrator until her replacement is chosen, said acting Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari. Both Dickerson and Porcari said the decision to leave was her idea. Dickerson's departure follows the announcement last month that Trent Kittleman had resigned as executive secretary of the Maryland Transportation Authority, the agency that runs Maryland's toll facilities.

KENSINGTON -- Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley launched a statewide tour last night at a town hall meeting in Montgomery County, appearing with his nominee for transportation secretary before a vocal crowd largely opposed to their pledge to go forward in building the proposed Inter-County Connector. At the top of the nearly two-hour meeting at Albert Einstein High School, Lt. Gov.-elect Anthony G. Brown told the audience the evening would be a "candid discussion" about issues affecting the area.

Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan told a state Senate committee yesterday that ripping out and replacing flawed concrete on the Bay Bridge will cost more than the $7 million previously estimated by the Maryland Transportation Authority. Flanagan said he could not yet provide a new estimate for the cost of the repair job - work that is increasing the number and duration of lane closings on the bridge. Under questioning by skeptical lawmakers, Flanagan conceded that the improperly done work was a "very serious mistake."

Donald Glenn Brotzman, 82, a former five-term Colorado congressman, died of cancer Wednesday in Alexandria, Va. He began working as an attorney in Boulder in 1950, the same year he was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives. He also served in the state Senate. After unsuccessful runs for governor in 1954 and 1956, he was appointed U.S. attorney for Colorado in 1959. He was elected to the U.S. House in 1962, when fellow lawmakers named him president of the Republican freshman class.