St. Mary's commissioners send off projects list to state

Now all they can do is wait and cross their fingers.

The St. Mary’s County commissioners approved their fiscal 2025 Consolidated Transportation Program and sent off their wish list of projects to the state during Tuesday’s meeting in Leonardtown.

To no one’s surprise, the Gov. Thomas Johnson Bridge was at the top of the letter, and was the county’s No. 1 project for most of the last two decades.

“A couple years back we changed our layout to make the Thomas Johnson Memorial Bridge not our No. 1, but still keep it highlighted. And I would advocate at this point in time to move it back to No. 1,” Commissioner Eric Colvin (R) said. “My understanding is that Sen. [Jack] Bailey and our state delegation is working some angles to try to work to get a bridge that is a lower bridge. Hopefully it’ll be a little bit cheaper and I think it would be supportive of our state delegation’s efforts if we made it our official No. 1 [priority] in the letter.”

Department of Public Works Director and Transportation Director Jim Gotsch said the bridge’s standing at the top proved to be somewhat detrimental.

“The problem was we weren’t getting any funding with our project and when we finally took it off No. 1 the state said, ‘You don’t have this big juggernaut project clogging up funding to your county,” he said. “So when we took it off as our No. 1 knowing that they weren’t going to fund it, then they started funding our [No.] 2, 3 and 4 [ranked] projects.”

“Realistically I’m not sure they’re going to fund anything going forward for a little while,” Colvin said.

Gotsch added that, “What we’re asking for [regarding] the bridge is no more studies please. Just do final design plans to show where the bridge will come next.”

Under public transportation projects, the proposed Chesapeake Bay Passenger Ferry was ranked second.

“I would question if it’s premature to add the Chesapeake Bay Ferry to this,” Colvin said.

“It is early in the process, but it’s important to have it in there if we’re going to apply for grants,” Department of Economic Development Director Chris Kaselemis said. “Also, Calvert County will be including it in their priority letter so if we apply for a grant and it’s not included as a priority for this county, it sets us back. We would hate for Calvert to be allowed to get the grant and St. Mary’s not [get it] because it’s in their letter.”

Commissioner Mike Hewitt (R) addressed the shoreline erosion project on St. George Island, which is No. 2 on highway projects.

“That thing needs to be done and it seems like it’s low-hanging fruit,” he said.

Hewitt added he recently received a letter from the St. George Island Improvement Association that claimed the state had put some stone by the bank, which fixed the problem for a while until large storms caused water to breach.

“You have 200 people down there that could be cut off,” Hewitt said. “This project, I believe, is higher than the overlay program.”

Hewitt asked why the asphalt overlay program is No. 1 in the highway column.

“So it maintains our roads,” Gotsch said.

Gotsch added the state cut some of the overlay funding, and instead of using “Superpaver” it is using a newer version of the tar-and-chip asphalt. Gotsch said Superpaver goes for about $22 a square foot while the newer version costs $2-3 but it “doesn’t last as long so have to overlay it more.”

“Superpaver was designed to be U.S. standard,” Gotsch said. “They were looking at something with high traction, high durability, low road noise and would shed the water.”

Gotsch also discussed a projected pedestrian overpass over Route 6 at the Three Notch Trail.

“The new Governor Is really pushing pedestrian safety,” Gotsch said, referring to Gov. Wes Moore (D).

Commissioner Mike Alderson Jr. (R) asked about a Route 236 project that calls for widening the road and is No. 4 on the highways list.

“There’s a lot of [horse and] buggy traffic on that road,” Gotsch said, “so we’re asking for shoulders.”