Council presses DOT on delivery as it OKs $15.5M Hannibal Street NEPA study and $1M for traffic calming

Council members pressed the Baltimore City Department of Transportation on project delivery and prior fund misallocations as the Budget Appropriations Committee approved funding to advance design and preliminary environmental work on the Hannibal Street Corridor and to transfer funds for neighborhood traffic calming.

Councilman Isaac Schleifer asked agency staff why the city should transfer more money to DOT when existing allocations remain unspent. "Why should we transfer money toward new projects when you can't execute on current projects that you have and that you have funding for and that you started and just haven't had the capacity or ability to finish?" he asked. DOT staff said some prior allocations were mislabeled as state funds when they were federal pass-throughs and offered to follow up in writing on prior designs and total project cost estimates.

On council bill 25-0123, DOT staff described the $15,500,000 appropriation as funding engineering and design for a 2.4-mile corridor and a NEPA study related to a bridge; the bridge design and construction would be handled separately after NEPA is complete. Emily Bolger, DOT grants manager, said she started in June and is working to correct project accounts: "I've just been spending a lot of time in the project accounts trying to make these corrections," she said, adding she has not seen lost grant funding since she arrived.

DOT Chief of Staff Patrick Fleming told the committee the $1,000,000 general fund transfer for neighborhood traffic calming will be used "to really focus on the projects that we'll be able to invest, that we know we need to be doing across the city to address traffic calming needs." Fleming said the funds will support both capital improvements and engineering analysis and that leadership plans to push contracts forward to reduce backlog.

Vice President Sharon Greene Middleton and Council President Z Cohen urged DOT to improve communication with council members and residents, request clearer project charts and timelines, and make implementation more predictable. Middleton said neighborhood traffic calming "touches our council members and our districts" and asked DOT to provide a specific chart showing lighting, bike lanes and timelines. Cohen criticized the agency's past performance on resurfacing, saying a reported 31% completion rate for resurfacing work was "a failing grade."

DOT committed to provide written follow-up on: which grants were misclassified, what unspent balances exist for neighborhood projects, what prior design work exists for Hannibal Street, and estimated costs to reach full design and construction.

What was decided: The committee approved council bill 25-0123 (Hannibal Street Corridor NEPA/design funding) and council bill 25-0143 (traffic calming transfer) to move to second reader; members required written follow-ups from DOT before the next council meeting.

Sources: Committee hearing transcript.