Posted on 11/09/2017 1:12:10 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Maryland has submitted another grant application seeking federal money to help widen part of Interstate 81.
The application will face a little less competition, because another Maryland project was withdrawn.
"I feel pretty good (about the application) for a couple of reasons. ... We're a large project that's not looking for a lot of money in a rural area," Matt Mullenax, executive director of the Hagerstown/Eastern Panhandle Metropolitan Planning Organization, said Monday.
The $81.9 million project would extend the widening of I-81 to six lanes from Williamsport to Interstate 70. Mullenax said the Maryland Department of Transportation plans to fund about 40 percent of the work and is seeking federal dollars for the remaining 60 percent.
It's Phase 2 of an overall plan to improve I-81 through Maryland. Phase 1, widening the interstate over the Potomac River from West Virginia into Maryland, is underway.
For Phase 2 funding, the Maryland Department of Transportation applied for a federal FastLane grant during the last year of the Obama administration. But states had to reapply under the Trump administration's new Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant program.
MDOT submitted the new I-81 application last week, Mullenax said.
MDOT officials also had been looking at a large project to expand the Howard Street Tunnel under downtown Baltimore. The project would expand the structure so it could accommodate trains with shipping containers stacked two high.
But CSX, based in Jacksonville, Fla., has withdrawn its support for the $425 million project. According to The Baltimore Sun, the railroad attributed its decision to its new operating plan, which involves reviewing "use and development of existing and planned infrastructure projects."
"We determined that the Howard Street Tunnel project proposal no longer justifies the level of investment required from CSX and our public partners at this time," the company told the newspaper.
Mullenax said dropping the Howard Street Tunnel proposal is no guarantee the federal government will fund the I-81 work. The I-81 request still will be measured against other applications from throughout the nation.
"It's not an allocation-based grant (that sends money to specific regions). It's a competitive grant," Mullenax said. "We have one less project to compete against. ... It does help us a little bit in that sense."
But Mullenax and James Kercheval, executive director of the Greater Hagerstown Committee, said state support for the project gives them cause to be optimistic.
"We've been really satisfied and happy with what the Hogan administration and (MDOT) Secretary (Pete) Rahn have been doing to promote this project," Kercheval said. "They delivered on their promise."
He referred to the heavy freight loads that trucks carry along I-81. He also mentioned that an additional two lanes would enhance the safety and reliability of the highway.
"We're optimistic the merits of (the) I-81 (project) will bode well in the application. ... It is a national freight priority," Kercheval said.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Use all that damn tax money you collect. Damn I can’t stand socialists. Stop calling them liberals.
end highway socialism once and for all
1) eliminate federal gas tax
2) fully privatize all interstates
3) use funds raised to pay down federal deficit
by fully privatize I mean sell the land and complete title with NO regulatory oversight on future operations. I can guarantee you 1000%, the free market will operate the interstates with less congestion and lower costs than the gov’t.
let the free market do its magic
end highway socialism
Let’s start by selling the street you live on.
Blue state...ef em..
socialism never works - even with highways
we have excess highway congestion because of highway socialism.
end federal gas taxes and privatize the interstates.
This whole process of the Federal DOT involvement in local transportation is the problem and even the Democrats in MD should see it.
The Federal DOT should be abolished. All Federal gasoline, airport, transportation and excise taxes should be abolished with a 5 year transition period in which the oil companies and other collectors of the taxes should be told to pay the tax money directly to the state in which collected.
The states have 5 years to implement state taxes...or not.
Having Federal control of so much money just guarantees a Federal swamp, which is precisely what the DOT is.
“...end highway socialism”
I’ll take highway socialism to your mentors running our roads.
NO THANKS.
Monetizing the ability to travel on any and all highways in the US would be quite the big step toward eliminating the mobility of the masses.
How much will the project actually cost, and how much of the funds allocated will line the pockets of RAT operatives and party coffers?
How many Tenneseeans are fleeing to Canada?
;^)
I 81 carries the highest weight of truck freight of any interstate in America per Forbes
East Tennessee is God's country so nobody who can make a living there wants to flee.
But I-81 is 24/7 bumper to bumper tractor-trailer traffic, almost as bad as I-95 which does have mostly six or more lanes.
I'm guessing it's Tennessee truckers taking freight North then hurrying back home to mama & kids.
Yes, in the spring I-81 can be bumper-to-bumper RVs, snow-birds returning from the Gulf of Mexico to New York & points north.
But it's just the weather they flee.
;-)
free stuff is never free - especially when it’s free stuff from the gov’t
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