Testimony on House Bill 1352

Tuesday, March 8

Prince George’s Advocates for Community-based Transit

Prince George’s Advocates for Community-based Transit, (Prince George’s ACT) opposes passage of House Bill 1352. As an organization of nearly 100 Prince Georgians who advocate for accessible transit and livable communities for our County, we believe allowing a single highway project to require 20 percent of Maryland’s future Federal highway funds is unsound transportation policy. Because single highway projects may potentially benefit small geographic areas of the state or small portions of Maryland’s population, we believe the current 13 percent maximum to be a more reasonable guideline.

It seems clear that HB1352, proposed by the Maryland Department of Transportation, is intended to enable the Intercounty Connector to be built and thus requisition, in advance, 20 percent of Maryland’s future Federal highway funds via GARVEE bonds. Prince George’s ACT opposes funding the ICC in a manner that leaves scant funds for other projects across the state of Maryland, including Prince George’s County. If the ICC must be built, we should minimize the impact that its financing plan will have on our ability to provide effective transportation solutions for all of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions and numerous communities.

In Prince George’s County alone, there are real transportation needs in communities ranging from College Park, Langley Park, Riverdale, New Carrollton, and Oxon Hill, to name just a few. Therefore no one project should lock up, in advance, as much as 20 percent of our Federal highway funds for 15 years.

The current ICC funding plan calls for using GARVEEs to fund about 40 percent (about $1 billion) of the ICC’s cost, while about 20 percent of the ICC’s cost would come from tolls. By comparison, Metrorail riders in our County and across the region pay a much higher percentage of Metro’s operating costs: over 53 percent. State law requires a farebox recovery rate of 50 percent. Why do we require that ICC users pay only 20 percent of the ICC’s costs?

To illustrate a more equitable funding plan for the ICC, the State might consider using tolls to finance 40 percent of the ICC costs and GARVEE bonds to finance 20 percent. Keeping GARVEE bond funding at the level of around $500 million, instead of the proposed $1 billion, would put it within current State law and would leave more future Federal funds for our communities needs.

Prince George’s ACT supports a more equitable approach to funding the ICC. We oppose House Bill 1352 because it is not an equitable approach to funding the ICC.

Jimmy Allen, Jr., Co-Chair

Karren Pope-Onwuwke, Co-Chair