California, MD — The Commissioners of Calvert and St. Mary’s counties last year went kicking and screaming into compliance with the federal mandate to create a regional transportation planning group. The so-called Calvert-St. Mary’s Metropolitan Planning Organization was mandated because the area of southern Calvert (Lusby, Chesapeake Ranch Estates and Solomons) and central St. Mary’s (California and Lexington Park) was a U.S. Census Designated Place with a population of more than 50,000.

The commissioners argued that the new planning organization would be bureaucratic redundancy because transportation planning is already being done by the state, the counties and by the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland. They caved in with the threat of federal transportation dollars if they didn’t comply.

Now a year and several meetings later the exercise is leading to a little bit of extra funding. The two counties will receive $210,000 in the next fiscal year, with all but $45,000 going to what are called “Special Studies.”

Four local transportation planning projects, two each in Calvert and St. Mary’s, will be funded. They are:
• Cove Point Road Sidewalk Feasibility Study ($25,000). It would determine the feasibility of providing a pedestrian trail or sidewalk on Cove Point Road from the Cove Point Park entrance to Little Cove Point Road. The Dominion project has prompted the proposal
• Road Connections in Lusby Town Center ($25,000). It would determine the feasibility of the connection of Lusby Lane to the intersection of Gunsmoke Trial and Thunderbird Drive.
• Lexington Park Development District Complete Streets Plan ($80,000). It would develop a prioritized phasing of transportation improvements and Complete Streets projects within the Lexington Park Development District of St. Mary’s County.
• Transit Improvement Cost Estimates for St. Mary’s County ($20,000). It would develop cost estimates for transit improvements in the 2013 St. Mary’s County Transit Development Plan.

The four projects were recommended by the staffs of the two counties. Each county will be responsible for $2,500 for each project in their county, with the rest of the funding coming from state and federal programs.

The work program for the planning organization was approved at its June 17 meeting at St. Mary’s County Department of Public Works and Transportation in California.. At the meeting a Transportation Improvement Program for Fiscal Years 2015-2018 was approved. It is essentially a repackaging of already approved state priorities: safety improvements, asphalt overlay projects, sidewalks, the Gov. Thomas Johnson Bridge project and improvements to the Great Mills Road/Route 5 intersection.

Commissioner of St. Mary’s County Todd Morgan (shown) is the chair of the Calvert-St. Mary’s Metropolitan Planning organization. He was joined at the head table by Commissioner Steve Weems of Calvert County for the meeting.

At future meetings, which are open to the public, a decision will be made on creating a Technical Advisory Committee within the new organization.

A standalone website is also being created and should be up and running in several months. It is being developed by a contractor for Calvert County in consultation with the St. Mary’s County Department of Land Use and Growth Management.

Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com