Planning commission approves updated Saint Mary's County transportation plan, sends it to county commissioners

The Saint Mary's County Planning Commission on May 12 approved an updated county transportation plan and voted to present the plan to the county commissioners for consideration.

The plan, prepared with consultant Brutus and Associates and reflecting data collected in 2022, lays out a 20-year program through 2045 of road, safety, bicycle, pedestrian and transit projects across the county and identifies state-owned corridors where capacity and safety problems are projected to worsen if no action is taken.

Why it matters: The planning commission and Public Works staff said projects in the plan are required for eligibility for certain state funding and that many of the county's most congested and dangerous links are state highways where county participation, coordination and funding commitments will be necessary.

Director of the Department of Public Works and Transportation Jim Gotch told the commission the report draws from the county's Transportation Advisory Committee, the Calvert–St. Mary’s Metropolitan Planning Organization and public comments. "Much of this data we collected was 2022," Gotch said, adding that the county manages about 1,625 roads, roughly 1,300 lane miles, and has increased its pavement overlay budget from about $3 million to $6 million per year.

The plan ranks routes that are projected to fail under a no-build scenario; Gotch said most of those failing links are state highways, while a smaller number of county roads also appear on the list. He singled out Route 235, Route 5, Maryland Route 4, Great Mills Road (Route 246) and Chancellors Run Road (Route 237) as corridors with high crash counts and recurring congestion. "The roads that are congested just so happen to be the same roads that are the most unsafe," Gotch said.

Staff and the consultant identified nearly 60 miles of roadway that the plan labels among the county's most dangerous; the presentation reported that those corridors account for the majority of killed-or-seriously-injured crashes countywide. The plan recommends measures including roundabouts, shoulder widening, traffic-calming features, upgraded signage and smart signal technology, and emphasizes creating parallel bicycle corridors and pedestrian linkages to steer non-motorized travel off high-crash routes.

Gotch highlighted local projects the county is advancing or studying: extending FDR Boulevard to provide relief to Route 235 and improve the intersection at FDR and Route 235 with a full signal; creating a fourth leg of Wildwood Parkway to connect to FDR Boulevard; and a series of roundabouts proposed for county intersections. He said the county expects to complete the FDR-to-Pegg Road extension next summer and that the first county-owned traffic signal will be installed as part of that work and maintained by the state under lease.

The plan also describes transit and airport items. The county's transportation system (STS) averaged close to 16,000 trips in winter months, staff said, and commissioners are considering a fare-free pilot starting July 1; Gotch said the county expects roughly a 30% increase in trips if fares are suspended, which could raise the county's state funding eligibility. At the airport, staff discussed runway paving, an airport master-plan update and exploratory efforts to join an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) network and add charging infrastructure.

Commission members asked about how the plan's priorities were set. Staff described a multi-step process: the consultant collected public comments and traffic data, the Transportation Advisory Committee prioritized projects, and Public Works and other county departments reviewed and refined the recommendations. Staff stressed that some projects require right-of-way acquisitions or utility relocations before construction can proceed.

Planning Commission member Patty Robrecht moved to accept the plan and forward it to the county commissioners; the motion was seconded and carried unanimously on roll call. The commission's recorded vote included Ayes from Patty Robrecht, Lynn Delahaye, Judy Philias, Connor Loughran, Jay Cisenau and Joe Van Kirk.

The planning commission's approval does not itself appropriate construction funding. The presentation and staff comments repeatedly noted that many of the needed improvements are on state highways and will require coordination with State Highway Administration and additional funding, and that projects will be placed on the county's annual state-priority letter for consideration.

The transportation plan and supporting documents will be submitted to the county commissioners for their review and any next steps on funding, permitting and coordination with state and regional partners.