Funds shifted by MD for roads that received federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law cash

Money for Interstate 81 was in the plans of multiple governors, the Washington County delegation to the Maryland General Assembly said thanks, and the state’s new transportation secretary acknowledged both the “partnership” with local officials and their safety concerns.

Yet millions of dollars, $68 million to be exact, has been scheduled by the state Department of Transportation to be reduced on the project, designed to widen a 3.5 mile stretch of the highway.

The decision, coming after about $90 million in federal funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed by President Joe Biden were originally allocated by the state towards the project, represents a step towards fulfilling a worry that the area’s state senator expressed months ago.

More: State and local officials talk safety as funds discussed for I-81 project completion

“There’s not a shovel in the ground yet,” said Sen. Paul Corderman, R-Washington/Frederick, referring to phase II of the four-part project, during an interview Oct. 5 after Maryland Department of Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld met with officials south of Hagerstown. “The state could very easily take that money and move it to another project, and that’s the concern.”

In a news release about the proposal on Wednesday, Corderman said that the “Moore Administration’s ‘Leave No One Behind’ promise is not being fulfilled.” Washington County’s senior state senator also said: “Western Maryland is suffering as a result.”

State commission working on increasing transportation revenue

The shift, coming as a state commission searches for ways to raise transportation revenue, was detailed in a Maryland Department of Transportation overview document released on Tuesday. The department’s budget, known as the Fiscal Years 2024-2029 Consolidated Transportation Program (CTP), is scheduled to be released in January, the same month as Democratic Gov. Wes Moore’s proposed budget.

A draft of the CTP document, which included full funding for the I-81 project, had been circulated earlier this year as Wiedefeld and department officials traveled the state. The Tuesday release from the department said: “In recent weeks, revenue projections have declined further.”

More: With gas tax revenue diminishing, Maryland commission meets to find new revenue for roads

Corderman, the top Republican on the state Senate’s Budget & Taxation Committee, indicated after the secretary’s October visit to Washington County that a priority for him was the “preservation of that funding” for I-81. “It’s just a number on a piece of paper at this point,” said the senator, after the secretary told the officials in the room about a more than $2 billion transportation budget shortfall created in part by diminishing gas tax revenues.

The project to improve Maryland’s roughly 12-mile portion of the road, which carries around than 19,400 trucks per day, according to state officials, has spanned multiple decades. The funding was also a topic of conversation between the governor’s chief of staff and a state delegate representing Hagerstown earlier this year.

A third of proposed 'Major Expansion Project Reductions' in 6th district

The road, part of a “critical freight corridor,” as deemed in a letter from the full Maryland congressional delegation to the previous presidential administration, has been a topic of interest over the years for congressmen and both of the state’s Democratic U.S. senators, Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen.

The state's senior U.S. senator, Ben Cardin, who is not seeking reelection, acknowledged having to "grapple with a severe shortfall in State funding," but found a "silver lining" in the proposal.

"The proposal applies to a six-year time frame, and much can happen over this period as state officials work to address the current funding challenges," said Cardin, in an email. "One silver lining is that (the department's) proposal maintains funding for planning and engineering for projects that are not yet ready for construction, so important projects like I-81 will continue to advance through pre-construction in the near-term.”

U.S. Congressman David Trone, D-6^th, who currently represents the district that includes Maryland’s portion of I-81 and who is running to replace Cardin, highlighted his vote for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in connection to I-81 funds for the state in a news release earlier this year.

U.S. Congressman David Trone, D-6^th, who currently represents the district that includes Maryland’s portion of I-81 and who is running to replace Cardin, who is not seeking reelection in the Senate, highlighted his vote for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in connection to I-81 funds for the state in a news release earlier this year.

A third (4 of 12) of the state’s proposed “Major Expansion Project Reductions” are projects that Trone highlighted his vote on in news releases in 2022 and 2023 about the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The most sizeable proposed decrease of the state’s “Major Expansion Project Reductions” was in the district he represents, $105.6 million originally allocated to U.S. 15 in Frederick. There were proposed reductions, too, for road projects in Allegany and Garrett counties, also in the district Trone currently represents.

There were no “Major Expansion Project Reductions” proposed on the Eastern Shore.

Other transportation administration budgets proposed to be cut too

In addition to the major expansion project cuts, which represent construction funding after 2023, the State Highway Administration is slated to reduce roadway cleaning, mowing and litter pickup as a cost saving measure.

The Maryland Transit Administration, Port Administration, Aviation Administration, Motor Vehicle Administration, and the secretary’s office are all listed in the document as receiving 8% cuts to their respective operating budgets.

“We must tighten our belts and make tough decisions now to create a sustainable, balanced budget that affirms our transportation priorities and makes key investments to grow Maryland’s economy,” said Wiedefeld, in a release.

More: State moves up 20 spots in economic momentum, but are Western MD, Eastern Shore seeing it?

Also in the release, the department indicated its intent to develop a prioritization system for highway and transit expansion projects to “evaluate project benefits in terms of meeting state transportation goals relative to cost,” adding that the system will be used to help prioritize projects included in the future Consolidated Transportation Program budgets.

"The Maryland Department of Transportation is maintaining planning, design, and engineering funding for all major and minor expansion projects listed," said a department spokesperson, in an email, referencing page 17 of the overview document. "Most of these projects were not projected to begin construction for several years (e.g., I-81 was not projected to begin construction until FY26).

"These projects will be evaluated for construction funding as they advance through the design and engineering phases and additional Transportation Trust Fund revenue is available," he said.

January 17, one week after the Maryland General Assembly is scheduled to convene, is the final day for the governor to introduce the budget and capital budget bills.

Update: This article was updated on Dec. 7, 2023 at 9:32 am to include a statement from U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin.

Dwight A. Weingarten is an investigative reporter, covering the Maryland State House and state issues. He can be reached at dweingarten@gannett.com or on Twitter at @DwightWeingart2.

This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Proposed Maryland transportation budget cuts to include funds for I-81