Maryland transportation advocates form coalition for innovative funding sources

The Bridges to Prosperity Coalition, which consists of business leaders, elected officials, and civic organizations, will work with Maryland policymakers to secure funds for these projects through public-private partnerships and other alternatives to the state’s ailing Transportation Trust Fund. It will be led by the Maryland Transportation Materials and Builders Association (MTBMA), which represents over 250 businesses that collectively employ more than 100,000 Marylanders.

“We can no longer view a new Chesapeake Bay Bridge as an unattainable luxury – not when backups on U.S. 50 reach 14-15 miles during summertime travel periods. Nor can we afford to dismiss a new American Legion Bridge as wishful thinking at a time when the current structure is woefully incapable of accommodating nearly 300,000 daily vehicles,” said MTBMA President and CEO Michael Sakata. “The safety of our families, the strength of our economy, and quality of life within our communities now depends on our willingness to replace our aging and failing transportation infrastructure.”

According to Sakata, Bridges to Prosperity will inform policymakers, stakeholders, and the public about the existence and benefits of public-private partnerships (P3s) and other alternative strategies, such as joint development, capital leasing, and third party contracting. The coalition will support executive and legislative proposals to facilitate their expanded use, and will encourage the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) to include such proposals in future bid documents.

The new coalition will begin its work as Maryland’s elected leaders and stakeholders face an ongoing transportation funding crisis caused by what has been described as a “perfect storm.” The widespread adoption of fuel-efficient and electric vehicles has led to a significant drop in gas sales since 2005. The Covid-19 pandemic has compounded the decline of gas sales and resulted in diminishing ridership.

Meanwhile, over the past decade, highway and heavy construction costs have risen by more than 50 percent. As a result of Maryland’s funding crisis, the network of state and local roads and bridges now suffers from advanced age, deterioration, and chronic underinvestment.

Currently, 49 percent of our state’s roads are in poor or mediocre condition. Furthermore, 46 percent of Maryland’s bridges are at least 50 years old – an age at which rehabilitation or replacement often becomes necessary – and five percent of those bridges are now in poor condition. The first span of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge was opened in 1952 and the second parallel span was opened in 1973.

“The two existing spans simply cannot meet today’s demands,” said MTBMA Past President Megan Owings, who serves as president and general counsel for David A. Bramble, Inc., of Chestertown. “The resulting congestion disrupts daily life, isolating the Eastern Shore from its metropolitan communities and, in some cases, delaying critical emergency response.”

The American Legion Bridge opened for traffic in 1962. The construction of a replacement structure, including leveraging of innovative approaches like public private partnerships, is supported by both Governor Wes Moore and U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

“Specifically for the American Legion Bridge, we agreed about the need to speed up the reconstruction and leverage innovative approaches like a public private partnership (P3) that will ensure Maryland, Virginia, and D.C. commuters can soon experience some much needed traffic relief from the most congested corridor in America,” said Moore and Duffy in a Jan. 15 statement.

“The bad news is that there simply is not enough money in the Transportation Trust Fund to build either of these projects,” said Sakata. “The good news is that roads, bridges and highways are regarded as dependable investment vehicles with an impressive rate of return. It is time that we bring government and private sector leaders together, in a spirit of shared possibility, to modernize our transportation network and move Maryland forward.”