It has been a long time coming, but perhaps it was worth the wait. Tonight, Maryland’s three top State leaders: Governor Martin O’Malley, State Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller, and House Speaker Michael Busch put forward a bold new funding package to support Maryland’s decaying transportation network.
It could not have come at a better time.
With tens of thousands of jobs in Maryland’s ailing construction industry literally hanging in the balance, and recent studies once again putting the national capital area at the top of America’s most severely congested communities, we are finally seeing signs that State leaders have come up with a plan that is big enough, bold enough, and smart enough to get the job done.
The legislature will have lots to say in the coming days as this proposal moves through the committees and to the floor, but what was introduced today would do several things:
- Provide over $800 million a year in new transportation funds when fully phased in — enough to fill most of the shortfall identified by the recent Blue Ribbon Commission — and enough to fund the Purple Line, Baltimore’s Red Line, the Corridor Cities Transitway, Watkins Mill interchange, improvements to I-270, and hundreds of bridges, roads and transit improvements around the state.
- Put some 44,000 Marylanders back to work in the construction trades over the next 5 years — a huge and desperately-needed boost for our sagging “post-sequester” economy.
- Protect the funds in the Transportation Trust Fund from future raids.
- Save Maryland motorists time and money – the cost to the average consumer is far less than the nearly $2,200 each one of us wastes every year due to traffic congestion.
Read more: http://www.governor.maryland.gov/costofinaction.asp
Visit our “Take Action” page now to make your voice heard! Our leaders have listened to local business leaders, civic leaders, transit advocates and motorist who have been crying out for action for a decade or more. Now it’s up to us to show our support. Sign our petition for transportation investment today!