Maryland has a transportation funding gap. And the group created to bridge it is waiting.

There’s a hole in Maryland’s transportation system about as big as the gap between the remnants of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. It’s a gap in state funding, but that gap existed before the cargo ship knocked the critical connector into the Patapsco River.

And the group charged with assisting in filling that gap — the Transportation Revenue and Infrastructure Needs Commission, legislatively-mandated in 2023 — is on hiatus after legislative maneuvering in the last month of the this year's session repealed the original commission, reconstituted the organization and provided it with a different charge than the original group’s .

To be clear, the March 26 bridge collapse is not the primary reason why the state is seeking new transportation revenue. Maryland’s federal congressional delegation is aiming for a 100% federal cost share for the collapsed bridge with its estimated rebuild price tag of between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion .

The reasons for the shortfall are more complex , predating the bridge’s fall.

A draft last year of the Maryland Consolidated Transportation Program document , which includes transportation projects planned between fiscal years 2024 and 2029, showed a funding gap of more than $2 billion . Projects set to receive government funds like Interstate 81 in Washington County lost out, at least temporarily, as the state shifted money leading up to the 2024 legislative session in order to balance the books.

Now, Gov. Wes Moore last week announced the more expensive option of light rail for the long-planned Red Line. Several of the Transportation Revenue and Infrastructure Needs Commission’s initial recommendations from its January interim report have already been enacted, expected to increase transportation revenue by millions of dollars.

But with a funding gap remaining, and the plan for the Red Line moving ahead, the question remains: Will the group initially created to help solve the state’s transportation revenue challenges be left behind?

More: With gas tax revenue diminishing, Maryland commission meets to find new revenue for roads

‘We’ll take that up a year from now’

On the first day of the 2024 legislative session, a day that saw flooding across the state — including at the Annapolis dock — Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, addressed another challenge: transportation revenue, which he viewed as longer-term.

“We’re going to have to invest more to make it more efficient to move people, goods and services in the state of Maryland,” said Ferguson, asked during his opening press conference with reporters Jan. 10 about the commission’s work. “We’re going to have to pay for it if we’re going to do any enhancements.”

“That’s not this session,” Ferguson added, “but for the upcoming year, this commission will be charged with figuring out if we do need additional investments to enhance and build further out our infrastructure, we’ve got to pay for it in a way that’s equitable and thoughtful.

“So we’ll take that up a year from now after the commission’s had a chance to really review what might be feasible,” he said.

More: Elected officials from across Maryland flood Annapolis as General Assembly session begins

Legislature explored Red Line costs earlier this year

The initial 31-member Transportation Revenue and Infrastructure Needs, or TRAIN, Commission included six state legislators (three delegates and three senators).

The commission was not scheduled to meet during the 90-day legislative session, according to its website . But during the flurry of legislative activity , the questions on funding transportation projects remained.

“What is the range of costs for the Red Line?” Del. Marc Korman, D-Montgomery, asked MDOT officials, including department Secretary Paul Wiedefeld, during a Jan. 24 hearing.

The Red Line is an east-west transportation project to connect large swaths of Baltimore with Western Baltimore County, relaunched by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, in 2023 after it was nixed by then-Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, in 2015. Transportation in the area has been rated as below average by area advocates for years .

“The range is about $2 billion at the low end for surface bus rapid transit, and about $8 billion at the high end for light rail,” Transit Administrator Holly Arnold said . At least half of that would have to come from state and local funds, she said.

Quick math from Korman, in his first session as chair of the House Environment and Transportation Committee, put the funding coming from state and local sources at between $1 billion and $4 billion for the project, depending on the transportation mode selected.

“None of that is budgeted in the current CTP,” he said.

Last month, Moore announced the most expensive of the options, light rail.

“Successful transit projects need to strike a balance that considers cost, long-term value and public support,” Wiedefeld said in a news release from the governor's office. “Baltimore’s Red Line is one more example of our commitment to providing Marylanders with a transportation network that provides access to opportunities, services and resources that can support a better quality of life.”

Few details were provided at the announcement event about how the multi-billion Red Line project would be paid for, according to reporting from the Baltimore Sun .

More: The Chesapeake Bay Bridge: One of many Maryland transportation projects in the works

Commission report is due, but who's on the commission?

The Transportation Revenue and Infrastructure Needs commission the Legislature backed in 2023 did produce some revenue for the state. A page from The 90-Day Report from the Department of Legislative Services to the Maryland General Assembly and its leaders shows about $50 million in revenue came from recommendations in the commission’s interim report.

The commission, for example, recommended an electric/hybrid plug-in annual surcharge, which became law.

In addition, an estimated $169 million is also set to come from annual vehicle registration fee increases approved earlier this year. Those increases went into effect July 1.

More: Vehicle registration fees in Maryland are set to rise this summer. Find out why.

A variation of a commission recommendation that was not incorporated in some way — a proposal called the Maryland Toll Rate Reform Act of 2024 — failed to get a hearing in the Senate after one was canceled on March 26, the day that the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed.

State senators who served on the original TRAIN commission, representing both parties, did not respond to requests for interviews for this article.

The Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act , the legislation that incorporated two of the TRAIN Commission’s recommendations and made them law, was the same legislation that ended the commission as authorized in 2023.

“Most of the former Commission membership is either on the new Commission or the Advisory Committee, but a new set of appointments will need to be made for both the Commission and the Advisory Committee before any work can begin this interim,” David Broughton, a spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Transportation, said in a July 2 email.

The TRAIN Commission’s former chair, Frank Principe, a senior vice president at the University of Maryland Global Campus, is not currently heading the new commission, and it appears no one is.

“All appointments will require the approval/reapproval of the House Speaker and Senate President along with the Governor's Office,” Principe said in a July 2 email.

And while Principe and the former members wait for approval, the newly authorized commission is still required by law to submit a final report to the governor and General Assembly on or before Jan. 1, 2025.

Without a lot more transportation revenue, the Red Line, decades in the making, is not going anywhere. And while the former TRAIN commissioners wait for approval, state residents, who may want to ride on new road projects, will have to wait, too — because those also require more revenue.

The state’s legislative leaders did not respond to requests for interviews for this article.

More: President Joe Biden visits victims' families, surveys collapsed bridge, promises rebuild

Dwight A. Weingarten is an investigative reporter, covering the Maryland State House and state issues. He can be reached at dweingarten@gannett.com or on Twitter at @DwightWeingart2.

This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Maryland has a transportation funding gap. And the group created to bridge it is waiting.