Baltimore County balks at state transportation demands

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Baltimore County officials are balking at a demand from the state Department of Transportation to provide studies for requested projects saying it does not have the ability to do the work and that a new law does not bar that county’s requests from being considered for funding.

Steve Walsh, director of the county’s Department of Public Works told Deputy Secretary James F. Ports Jr. in a letter the county does not have the ability to do the work “especially within the limited time frame allotted. This type of detailed analysis has always been a state responsibility.”

The letter, obtained by The Daily Record, is the first to be publicly released that balks at a July 28 letter from Ports demanding information he said is required and, if not received, would eliminate projects from state consideration.

Ports said the information is required as part of the new transportation scoring system called for in the recently passed Maryland Open Transportation Investment Decision Act of 2016.

Ports, in an interview Thursday, said that the wording may have gone too far and studies were not required nor would they disqualify a project from consideration, though he added that a lack of information could lead to low scores that could drop a project’s ranking.

Ports said no correspondence would be going out to the counties regarding the apparent contradiction.

“We’re going to have continuous conversations with local governments and if something is misconstrued or misunderstood, we’ll fix it,” he said.

Walsh, in his letter, pointed out state regulations for the new system have not yet been drafted and that the act, House Bill 1013, prevents a local government’s projects from being excluded from consideration.

Walsh added rejects “the suggestion that current projects could be jeopardized and, based upon clarification I received from the General Assembly, I assume Baltimore County‘s priorities will move forward.”