Posted on 02/27/2017 7:34:58 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The 2017 Maryland General Assembly session recently started with several issues receiving the majority of attention. We have all heard about both medical marijuana and Gov. Larry Hogan's "road kill bill." As someone who has spent a lifetime involved in the highway industry, I would like to share my thoughts on the latter topic ("Hogan's 'road kill bill' lie," Jan. 5).
We have all noticed the severe deterioration in our highway system, be it local, state or interstate. There are many reasons for this and I will share them all with you. However, the overriding principle is that our roads are now expected to perform well beyond their expected design lives.
Gov. Larry Hogan and his staff are engaged in a significant dispute with the state legislature over the importance of a new selection process for projects over $5 million or the continued use of our tried and proven Maryland Consolidated Transportation Program. Frankly, I believe that the CTP process is superior as it considers a much broader scope of inputs and is sensitive to cost affordability of any given project.
If we travel back in time to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s administration, we saw the beginning of the "mega-project" era. A billion dollars was spent on renovations at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Almost as much was spent on I-95 by the Maryland Transportation Authority. At least $2 billion was spent on the Inter County Connector and another $2 billion was spent on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. These projects were all needed and are serving Maryland residents well.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Governor Hogan was not able to support President Trump during the campaign. To do so would have turned a rabid MD democrat political machine into a murderous enemy. He does, now, see a way forward to work with the Trump administration especially on infrastructure.
These two men are identical in many respects. They are both highly successful businessmen who became politicians to drive the tyrants out. Their methods are different but their objectives and principles are the same.
Another lying Maryland SOB. The projects cited only served the Washington DC bedroom suburban Montgomery and Prince George counties and Baltimore area and even then, only select areas. Western and Eastern Shore not so much.
You do realize, I am sure, that central Maryland contains the overwhelming majority of the state’s population. Not saying that Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore don’t have their own needs, but it stands to reason (at least to me) that the bulk of the state’s transportation spending would go to where the great bulk of the people live and where the great bulk of the traffic is.
I understand not endorsing Trump, but Hogan could have just kept quiet. He certainly did not need to broadcast that he did not vote for Trump. I am very disappointed in Hogan about this.
As are many of his most ardent supporters. He made a calculated guess and missed. I believe he will make up for this mistake and get on the Trump train. Hogan’s real task is turning MD around no less than Trump’s goal of turning the nation around.
Yeah but not the freakiest by nay measure.
Yeah but not the freakiest by any measure. (my dyslexia flaring up again 8>)
I live in Mongomery County and over the decades have watched the cancerous government employee and parasite government consultants and lobbyists growth spread beyond reason and ability of existing infrastructure to keep pace.
The primary feeders to DC get the attention and $ while secondary roads that serve the residence and local retail centers slowly deteriorate. Soon they will become dangerous pothole ridden streets like those of DC. And the farther from DC the less the maintenance.
And the communities served are hard core progressive that serve to choke the life from the rest of the state as well as providing “santuary” satellite communities.
Casa Maryland spawned the new DNC Chairman.
During the Obama regime it truly became the District One straight out of the Hunger Games.
What makes me laugh is that no where in the bills does it require the contractor to be efficient. Every road project I’ve driven through in MD sucks, takes way longer than it should, and in the end usually makes traffic worse.
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