THURMONT,
Md. – Though the Frederick County Commissioners believe
unfunded road projects don’t belong on planning documents
for future road improvements, the Maryland State Highway Administration
doesn’t agree with them.
“If
everyone adopted a mindset of ‘If it’s not funded,
it’s not on a planning document,’ we wouldn’t
have a Highway Needs Inventory,” said Dave Coyne,
district engineer with the SHA. He spoke to members of Thurmont’s
Economic Development Commission on March 19.
The
Highway Needs Inventory is the state’s long-range
unfunded road improvement plan. It contains many projects
for Frederick County that have no funding but are needed
or will be needed.
“We
still need to look forward and decide where the needs will
be,” Coyne said.
This
is the opposite of the position the county commissioners
have taken, deciding to remove anything from the Thurmont
Regional Plan that isn’t funded, including an Emmitsburg
bypass and a Thurmont Industrial Parkway.
However,
gaining state funding for a project requires that it be
on the county’s priority list.
“It
starts with your elected officials to make it a priority
to make it a major project,” Coyne said.
He
pointed out that even if the county places a project on
its priority list, it isn’t guaranteed funding.
“The
priority list always far exceeds the money available,”
Coyne said.
One
of the reasons for this funding disparity is that the state
is concentrating more money on preserving its existing road
infrastructure rather than building new roads.
The
projects that do get funding are put on the Consolidated
Transportation Plan, a six-year capital plan that can be
found on the Internet at www.marylandroads.com.
John
Concannon with SHA also noted that U.S. Route 15 hadn’t
been studied north of Biggs Ford Road for additional interchanges.
Because of that, there are no plans presently to close the
at-grade access points on the highway.
