State’s workaround pays off for Berlin

Congratulations to the Maryland Department of Transportation, the Town of Berlin and the Worcester County Commissioners for figuring out how to get back on track with the town’s community connection project after last month’s loss of the federal funding already set aside for it.

Although $1.2 million in federal money was awarded to the town last year to help pay for the planning and design of a means to bridge the two sides of town divided by Route 113, the town learned in early August that most of that money had been taken away under the Big Beautiful tax bill.

The reaction to that reversal of fortune was, as expected, bitter disappointment. That was especially so considering that the source of the money, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program, was a perfect match for what the town hoped to do — find a way for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the highway safely.

But in less than a month, state and local officials found a solution by scrambling for a workaround that would allow the county commissioners to make the final call.

First, transportation department officials reassigned more than $640,000 in federal money awarded for other community projects in the state. Then the town came up with $104,000 on its own, leaving it up to the county to give the town just $24,000 so it could meet the matching grant requirement attached to the state’s funding.

Although the town did ask the commissioners for the release of $113,000 in county money left over from other town projects, the commissioners did ensure that Berlin got what it needed, if not what it wanted.

Even so, residents need to understand that these good efforts don’t mean a walkway/bike path will be built any time soon or, possibly, ever. This funding will help the town and state highway officials determine what is possible.That’s still a big step, however, because without the patchwork funding plan masterminded by the state, the continued pursuit of this idea would have been impossible.