How that extra $20 million earmarked for the Gov. Thomas Johnson Bridge replacement project will be spent is expected to be revealed in September. According to Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) officials the word will be given locally during SHA’s annual road show which will alight in Southern Maryland in late September.

The $20 million comes from the increased gas tax passed by the 2013 Maryland General Assembly. It will not pay for all of the design and engineering for the replacement four-lane bridge, which carries an $800 million price tag.

The bridge project was the main topic of conversation at a Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland meeting Thursday at Middleton Hall in Waldorf. And the gas tax increase that provided the additional $20 million was also a topic of conversation.

At the meeting presentations on the bridge project were given by Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy and Freight Bruce Gartner, the SHA’s bridge Project Manager Jeremy Beck and SHA engineer Debbie Russell.

The bridge replacement also includes a four-lane highway between the bridge and Route 235. At the Route 4/235 intersection several designs were floated around but one with a flyover taking southbound Route 4 traffic onto eastbound Route 235 was touted as the preferred alternate.

But Beck said the flyover option had been criticized by the county commissioners and he expects that to be revised. Concern had been raised that the project would prevent base bound traffic from turning into the business, such as Starbucks, along Route 235. Under that plan the WAWA would be taken.

The bridge replacement has been the number-one regional transportation priority for a number of years. The council has supported the project even though it generally just affects traffic to and from Patuxent River Naval Air Station between St. Mary’s and Calvert counties (although an accident such as happened Saturday can tie up even non-rush-hour traffic for hours). But the council has recognized how powerful the economic engine of the Patuxent River Naval Air Station to the entire region and to the state.

Council Chairman and Charles County Commissioner President Candice Quinn Kelly (D) told the SHA officials, “On behalf of the Tri-County Council I really want to say thank you. It (the bridge replacement) is good for the base and good for BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure).”

Del. John Bohanan (D: 29B) noted that his constituents who live is south St. Mary’s County don’t use the bridge to get to work on base. He said he has been under intense criticism for supporting the gas tax increase. He said he is being looked at “as if I had two heads.”

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