Improving transportation from rural Cecil County to Washington and all points in between will be essential to preparing for military realignments bringing up to 60,000 new jobs to Maryland, officials said Tuesday.
In a presentation to the House Economic Matters Committee, development officials from nearly every Maryland county surrounding Baltimore and Washington outlined what?s been done to prepare for the Base Realignment and Closure, and what?s yet to be done.
“Transit and the MARC system really has to play a major role in this conversation. … I would hope that it would become part of your mantra,” said Del. David Rudolph, D-District 34 and Vice-Chair of the Economic Matters Committee.
The Greater Baltimore Committee has been soliciting lists of transportation “to-do” lists from the surrounding counties in an attempt to consolidate them into short-, middle- and long-range approaches, said Committee President Donald Fry.
“One of those things that?s very high on that issue deals with MARC trains from Cecil County … all the way down to Washington,” he said.
The Committee may ask Gov. Martin O?Malley to streamline the approval process for transportation projects through an executive order, Fry said.
Other counties already are pushing for shorter timelines on several transportation projects such as improvements to Route 175 near Fort Meade, or enhanced ride-sharing and transit incentives for the Naval Hospital in Bethesda.
Maryland is expected to get between 40,000 and 60,000 new jobs through BRAC, but filling more of those jobs with native Marylanders could go a long way toward reducing the infrastructure requirements, said Brig. Gen. J. Michael Hayes, director of military and federal affairs for Maryland?s Department of Business and Economic Affairs.
Officials emphasized the regional approach they will be taking to BRAC preparations, with alliances being forged between Anne Arundel, Howard and the city of Laurel; Baltimore, Harford and Cecil counties.
Harford County released an “action plan” for its preparations earlier this week, said Director of Economic Development James Richardson, and other counties will be creating their own plans over the next few months.
Those will then be combined with an overarching “capstone” plan to detail how the entire region will set about improving its roads, schools and other infrastructure, Richardson said.
