The Maryland Chamber joined the Greater Baltimore Committee and Greater Washington Board of Trade in commissioning a study of Maryland’s transportation infrastructure.

The study, conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute, found that roadway congestion in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. region costs Maryland more than $3 billion per year — $1 billion in the Baltimore area and more than $2 billion in the D.C. area. The cost of congestion in Maryland has increased almost 1,200 percent since 1982. The volume of the state’s rush-hour traffic has increased 135 percent in the last 25 years, yet the number of lane miles on major highways has increased by only 35 percent.

Based on the report’s findings, leaders of the three organizations are urging the governor and state lawmakers to increase revenue to the state’s Transportation Trust Fund by a minimum of $600 million annually. The increase is needed to address a more than $40 billion backlog of state highway, transit, port, and airport projects now in the planning stages that are not funded for construction. The groups agree that:

• Revenue dedicated to the Transportation Trust Fund should stay in the fund and not be used for General Fund purposes;
• An increase in the state’s gas tax should be part of the solution in increasing annual transportation revenue by at least $600 million;
• The majority of additional taxes for transportation purposes should be raised from transportation-related sources.

Click below for more information:

• Press Release
• TTI Study (pdf)