SENATE OF MARYLAND

ANNAPOLIS. MARYLAND 214O1-1991

By Sen. Roy Dyson

Infrastructure improvements always seem to lag behind the demand. In some ways it's a Catch 22. Fiscal prudence says you shouldn't open new schools with empty classrooms or open new roads to light traffic. But fiscal prudence gives way to charges of lack of vision when classrooms become overcrowded and roads gridlocked and the needed infrastructure isn't anywhere in sight.

The area really didn't have a lot of time between the announcements of the BRAC decisions and the actual arrival of the new workers. Roads do take a lot of time to build as the process of planning, design, right-of-way acquisition and construction grinds on. Schools are much the same way.

Vision and fiscal prudence don't have to be mutually exclusive. This is especially true as we move into the 21st Century here in Southern Maryland. We know that roads will be built and schools will be built to accommodate the growth. We also know as sure as we sit here in traffic jams that the planned road improvements won't be enough. And more new schools will be needed. The prudent thing to do now is to begin planning for the next steps.

We know that the Route 235 and 4 intersection is crucial. Planning should begin now either for an overpass/interchange there or at the intersection of Route 4 and the proposed FDR Boulevard. Do we need it today? Probably not. Will we need it in the foreseeable future? Yes, as surely as they needed interchanges for years before they were actually constructed at the Route 5 and Alexander's Ferry Road and Allentown Road intersections in Clinton.

I also have another vision of the future: a light rail line from Southern Maryland to Washington, DC. There is a right-of-way paralleling Route 235 and 5 in St. Mary's and Charles counties which is owned by St. Mary's County and Southern Maryland Electric Co-op. We should begin planning now to preserve that former railroad right-of-way for an eventual light-rail line. Will I see it in my lifetime? Maybe; maybe not. But I can assure you we'll need it more sooner than later.

There is one sure thing: things change. We need to look beyond the way things are done to envision how they might be done. To say that SMECO needs all the right-of-way they have ignores the possibility of electric company deregulation and the possibility that SMECO may be less into laying electric lines and more into running some other wireless business.

To ignore the possible need for a light-rail line and forego the possibility of it ever happening goes beyond fiscal prudence. It is foolhardy. That is why last year I introduced a bill which would have required the Maryland Department of Transportation to determine the feasibility of using the above mentioned right-of-way for a future light-rail line. That bill passed the Maryland Senate on a vote of 46 to 1. But it got bogged down in the Maryland House of Delegates.

I think a lot of eyes were opened recently at a St. Mary's County League of Women Voters meeting. I told the league members about the bill and there was a lot of support voiced for the idea. Many told of their recent experiences of sitting in traffic. We are a narrow peninsula. They understand that we have to look at mass transit as an essential part of the long-term solution.

I will try again this year to get the bill passed to require the light-rail study. If you agree with me I would hope you would contact legislators and other elected officials and get them to hop on the bandwagon if they haven't already. Better to have that wagon inching forward towards the future than stuck at a standstill in gridlock.