In push for bridges, bypass for Waldorf gets bypassed

Pace of project slows as Inter County Connector revs up

Friday, June 5, 2009

Even as the project that has been sought for years remains tangled in a web of environmental concerns and engineering reviews, legislators say they're as committed as ever to seeing the bypass built and ensuring it does not get lost in a sea of other transportation needs.

"It's something that I don't think we can just forget about," said Del. Sally Y.  Jameson, who chairs the Southern Maryland Delegation in Annapolis.

The bypass remains the region's top transportation priority, even as lawmakers have stepped up their pursuit of funding for upgrades to the Gov. Thomas Johnson and Gov. Harry W. Nice memorial bridges, which have become severe choke points for both daily commuters and vacationers seeking an alternative to clogged Interstate 95.

"Those projects are needed, but they in no way surpass the need for the Waldorf bypass," said Del. Murray D. Levy, a longtime advocate of the bypass spanning to his days as a Charles County commissioner. "I think the reason you see the Waldorf bypass fading from view is not because it won't be built, it's because it won't be built in the near-term future."

The chief hang-ups currently facing the road are the same ones that have plagued it for years: identifying an alignment that both safeguards the fragile Mattawoman Creek habitat and meets engineering guidelines.

Beyond that, the question of funding poses an even bigger obstacle.

Despite cutting more than $1 billion from its long-term transportation program last year, the state maintained funding for the purchase of rights of way along the Route 301 corridor to preserve the preferred western bypass of Waldorf.

Nearly $40 million has already been expended to acquire land for the proposed bypass and at least $500,000 more is in the fiscal 2010 budget, said State Highway Administration spokesman David Buck.

But that represents only a fraction of the total price tag, which will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on the final alignment of the bypass, Buck said.

Lawmakers hope that once the Inter County Connector, a mega-project linking Montgomery and Prince George's counties north of the Capital Beltway, is fully funded, more money will be directed toward priority projects in other areas of the state, including Southern Maryland.

"I'm a realist to understand that anytime you get into major projects like this, it has a significant funding requirement and considerable environmental concerns that have to be appropriately addressed as you go along," said Sen. Thomas "Mac" Middleton, another longtime bypass advocate.

Road projects of similar magnitude, such as the Hughesville bypass, take decades to plan, design, get permits and construct, lawmakers said, so the sluggish pace is not disconcerting.

The availability of funding, however, is cause for concern. In tight fiscal times, it's more difficult to request a large amount of money for a single project.

That's why Levy predicts it's going to require an as-yet unknown alternative funding source, such as a public-private partnership, to fund the bypass.

"If we wait for $1 billion from the state, we'll be waiting for a long time," he said.

The possibility remains that the Waldorf bypass will become a toll road or have lanes dedicated to high-occupancy vehicles, Levy added.

Meanwhile, advocates of upgrading or replacing the region's two most heavily-traveled bridges have intensified their efforts in recent years.

The two-lane Gov. Thomas Johnson Memorial Bridge, which connects St. Mary's and Calvert counties, is in dire need of additional lanes to accommodate the growth of Patuxent River Naval Air Station, while the two-lane Nice bridge becomes a major bottleneck during peak summer travel season and even during rush hour as more people commute from King George County, Va.

"The Washington region has so much congestion that all these projects become important, but we can only do what our limited resources allow us to do," said House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell, (R-Calvert, St. Mary's), whose district includes the Thomas Johnson bridge. "That Inter County Connector has been on the drawing board for 40 or 50 years, so it probably does need to get done, but that doesn't mean all these [other] projects aren't important as well."

Because the base's survival and the region's economy hinges on efficient transportation, O'Donnell said the Thomas Johnson bridge is just as, if not more vital than the Waldorf bypass.

"I know it's a very expensive proposition, but it's one that we need to continue to make progress on," O'Donnell said.

Former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) put $5 million toward planning for a new or replacement span and state highway officials have held several public forums on both sides of the bridge to gather citizen input before a final course of action is determined in the near future.

Sen. Roy Dyson (D-St. Mary's, Calvert, Charles) has long advocated for a new bridge that not only reflects the region's growth, but improves the structural integrity of the span that he said has been in question ever since engineers had to close it for two months in 1988 after cracks were found in the bridge's pier caps.

Even though recent inspections have shown that the bridge is structurally sound, Dyson has maintained his push for a new bridge.

Because it is one of the state's seven toll facilities, any improvements to the Nice bridge would be funded through the Maryland Transportation Authority's capital program, which is separate from non-toll projects.

That gives local officials some hope that it can be addressed sooner, but even that may be a longshot while the economy sputters.

Lawmakers say it's important that lawmakers remain united despite the differing priorities, which could cause the projects to compete for the same pot of limited dollars.

"I think they're both important," Jameson said of the bypass and Nice bridge. "It's not fun sitting on a bridge for 30 or 40 minutes. However, at the same time, it's not fun to sit in the northern 301 area of Charles County and southern Prince George's County trying to get back and forth from Washington."

Jameson said she gets more letters from constituents on congestion at the Nice bridge than on any other subject.

Even though citizen frustration about the increasingly crowded roadways intensifies, Middleton said the key is staying vigilant, exhibiting patience and working with the Army Corps of Engineers and other reviewing agencies to address any outstanding concerns.

"These things take a long time," he said. "To move cautiously … is the proper approach. One of these days it will happen; maybe not in my lifetime. Look how long it took for the ICC to get under way."

abrody@somdnews.com