With funds running dry, state asks for local transit priorities

Maryland transportation officials are on a statewide tour asking local government executives to identify their top traffic priorities with one cautionary note: The well to fund the projects has run dry.

State officials stopped in Towson and Baltimore City on Monday, where Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith and Mayor Sheila Dixon named projects such as an integrated transit system between Woodlawn and Johns Hopkins campus as their top needs. The stops were part of an annual tour for Maryland Transportation Secretary John Porcari and administrators ? this year coinciding with Gov. Martin O?Malley?s push to replenish the state?s transportation trust fund by indexing the gas tax with the rising cost of transportation construction costs.