Who's in charge of funding for bike/ped projects?
I've reported previously how Maryland spends the lowest percentage of Transportation Enhancement (TE) funds on bike/ped projects. Maryland has the highest local match requirement in the nation while $20 million of TE sits unobligated in the bank (update 2010 figures are in and $31M is available less our $6M obligated. We are only planning to spend 20% of the money available in an election year?) Maryland has a ridiculously low maximum project cost for the Recreational Trail Program (RTP), Baltimore Metro has spent NO Congestion Management and Air Quality (CMAQ) funds on bike/ped projects, while other major cities have made use of these funds for bike/ped projects. Recently I reported how Maryland is below the national average on spending Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) funds. Basically every Federal program that is used to support cycling is grossly underutilized in Maryland.
I don't know about you but it sounds to me like we have a problem.
So I ran across this in State Law:
§ 2-606. Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.
(a) Purpose.- The Governor shall appoint a Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (MBPAC) to provide guidance to State agencies concerning:
(1) Funding of bicycle and pedestrian related programs;
...
(h) Meetings.- The Committee shall meet at least quarterly with at least one meeting held in Annapolis.
...
So lets bring this issue to MBPAC and see what they say, quoting the August MBPAC minutes:
"Jim Titus stated that Barry Childress, a local bicycle advocate, claimed that MBPAC did not fulfill all of its statutory requirements. In response Michael Jackson passed out a copy of Section 2-606 of the Transportation Volume of the Annotated Code of Maryland which lists MBPAC’s duties. Upon review of Section 2-606 none of the members other than Jim Titus expressed agreement with Mr. Childress’s statement. Marci Ross proposed that MBPAC consider cutting its meeting schedule from bi-monthly to four meetings per year. Ensuing discussion provided a consensus that this item be continued for discussion at the October meeting."
[Heavy sigh]
To bring my point home I'm going to quote Richard Layman and the research he did for the Western Baltimore County Bike Master Plan:
"State of Maryland transportation enhancement program match requirements. Of all the state participants, Maryland’s requirement for local match, 50%, is the highest. This requirement is significantly higher than all of the states bordering Maryland. West Virginia and DC have a 20% match. Virginia also has a 20% match requirement, but will fully fund projects under $200,000. Delaware requires a 2% match/$100,000 of award, while Pennsylvania does not require match, considering local expenditures on preconstruction planning to satisfy match requirements. By comparison to Maryland, the bordering states have a larger and more geographically diverse number of jurisdictions participating in their enhancement program. It may be worth evaluating Maryland’s program requirements for local jurisdiction participation in the transportation enhancement program, in order to increase the number of jurisdictions actively participating, and to bring the State’s utilization of the available funding closer to 100% of available funds, versus the roughly 80% that is actually obligated." [Note: we have averaged about 80% of appointed funds but the percentage from available funds is much, much lower.]
I'll copy this to the chair of MBPAC and see if he would like to respond.
TE
<a href="http://www.enhancements.org/Stateprofile.asp">http://www.enhancements.org/Stateprofile.asp</a>;
<a href="http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20100618153759192">http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20100618153759192</a>;
RTP
<a href="http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20100430170721104">http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20100430170721104</a>;
HSIP
<a href="http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20101010111816491">http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20101010111816491</a>;
CMAQ
<a href="http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20091023193627353">http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20091023193627353</a>;
50% match highest in the Nation (Richard Layman's point #8)
<a href="http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2010/08/proposals-for-bicycle-improvements-at.html">http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2010/08/proposals-for-bicycle-improvements-at.html</a>;
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