OCEAN PINES– The hottest issue in the race for District 5 Worcester County Commissioner continues to be Rt. 589 expansion, with Republican Chip Bertino and Democrat Tom Wilson continuing to exchange rhetoric this week.
Wilson’s campaign insists the current Commissioners have not done enough, citing a letter written by Commissioners to Md. Department of Transportation Office of Planning and Capital Programming Director Donald A. Halligan in March expressing their support for three state highway projects “in no particular order.”
Bertino, for his part, insisted the money is just not there, citing a Commissioners meeting on September 16 involving state transportation officials.
“The Secretary of Transportation briefed the County Commissioners on state priorities for highway improvement and expansion in the state,” he said. “He brought his staff down – there must have been seven or eight people from his department – and he said there was no money for 589 at this time.”
Documents from the meeting, said Bertino, affirm the state will not have the funds to improve 589 until at least 2030.
“I sat on the Rt. 589 stakeholder’s group that launched in 2007,” Bertino said. “I know that there is no money available. And it is not a county project – it’s a state road that requires state funding. The Secretary of Transportation has said that there will be no money for this project, so I don’t know how to respond to the repeated assertions that we’re not doing enough. I don’t understand where (Wilson) is coming from other than to make it a political issue, which is his right to do I guess. But it is not a political issue.”
Wilson, on the other hand, insists the project is too important to discard.
“There is money available,” he said. “You can’t just sit back and say, ‘well – we wrote them a letter and they didn’t fund it, and that’s that.’ That’s not the way government really works. What you have to do is build coalitions, build alliances, find people who have influence over the process and talk to them, and basically work at it.”
Higher gas taxes and a constitutional amendment on the state transportation trust fund slated for a fall vote, said Wilson, provide opportunity for increased revenue to improve roads.
“Ocean Pines is the biggest community in Worcester County,” said Wilson. “We have a lot of voters here, and we have a lot of people who vacation here from the other shore, so we do have a chance to have some influence I think. And if you go out and work on it I think we can get the money. The people at the state level are not immune to pressure, but if you don’t put any pressure on them nothing is going to happen.”
Bertino would not completely rule out 589 expansions as a possibility, but maintained it would be highly unlikely.
“If increased funds come into the state treasury maybe there will be an opportunity for widening 589, but it is not a priority of the state at the time and the secretary was asked repeatedly by multiple commissioners at that meeting, which, by the way, Tom Wilson was not there.
“Quite truthfully those priorities could change,” Bertino said. “If we get new leadership in Annapolis – if we get a Republican governor or a Republican legislature – they may change the priorities of the Department of Transportation. But to suggest that the county is not doing anything is just flat out wrong.”
County Commissioners, said Bertino, do not build state roads.
“It’s very frustrating,” he said. “We’ve done everything that we can, but the ball is not in our court. The cost of doing this project – 330 million – is almost twice what our county budget is.”
Wilson called the $330 million estimate “silly.”
“It’s not going to cost anywhere near that,” he said. “Looking at the big interchange they’re going to build in Centerville, it’s going to cost just about $50 million and that’s on a bigger road. All we have is one little interchange at 50 and then we have to build a bridge at the creek. Other than that, it’s just three miles of widening. I think it’s going to be a lot less — $100 million or less is much closer.”
The state’s current priority project, widening Rt. 113, began in 1971, making 589 expansions in the near future seem unlikely. Other areas, including Rt. 90 and the Rt. 50 Bridge, also need attention.
Still, Wilson insisted widening 589 was of paramount importance.
“I think 589 is part of a whole network of roads that are fragile, at best,” Wilson said. “Rt. 90 and Rt. 50 and 589 form an important connection for people going to and from Ocean City. The first thing we need to do is double up 589 – make it four lanes – so there’s a good connection. And then we need to work with the people in Ocean City to get funding for those other two roads so we can have a robust transportation network in the northern part of the county.”
Wilson said 589 was a “health and safety issue” for people in Ocean Pines.
“It’s how ambulances get from Ocean Pines to Atlantic General,” he said. “There’s no way out of this community without going on 589 – either across it or along it.”
Bertino remained unconvinced.
“I think people understand that there is a difference in what (Wilson) is saying and what has actually happened,” he said. “I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but I have been down there for years and I have seen the current commissioners and past commissioners fight every time the (Transportation) Secretary comes in to talk about the priorities for State Highway. It’s been brought up repeatedly.”
Wilson’s campaign insists the current Commissioners have not done enough, citing a letter written by Commissioners to Md. Department of Transportation Office of Planning and Capital Programming Director Donald A. Halligan in March expressing their support for three state highway projects “in no particular order.”
Bertino, for his part, insisted the money is just not there, citing a Commissioners meeting on September 16 involving state transportation officials.
“The Secretary of Transportation briefed the County Commissioners on state priorities for highway improvement and expansion in the state,” he said. “He brought his staff down – there must have been seven or eight people from his department – and he said there was no money for 589 at this time.”
Documents from the meeting, said Bertino, affirm the state will not have the funds to improve 589 until at least 2030.
“I sat on the Rt. 589 stakeholder’s group that launched in 2007,” Bertino said. “I know that there is no money available. And it is not a county project – it’s a state road that requires state funding. The Secretary of Transportation has said that there will be no money for this project, so I don’t know how to respond to the repeated assertions that we’re not doing enough. I don’t understand where (Wilson) is coming from other than to make it a political issue, which is his right to do I guess. But it is not a political issue.”
Wilson, on the other hand, insists the project is too important to discard.
“There is money available,” he said. “You can’t just sit back and say, ‘well – we wrote them a letter and they didn’t fund it, and that’s that.’ That’s not the way government really works. What you have to do is build coalitions, build alliances, find people who have influence over the process and talk to them, and basically work at it.”
Higher gas taxes and a constitutional amendment on the state transportation trust fund slated for a fall vote, said Wilson, provide opportunity for increased revenue to improve roads.
“Ocean Pines is the biggest community in Worcester County,” said Wilson. “We have a lot of voters here, and we have a lot of people who vacation here from the other shore, so we do have a chance to have some influence I think. And if you go out and work on it I think we can get the money. The people at the state level are not immune to pressure, but if you don’t put any pressure on them nothing is going to happen.”
Bertino would not completely rule out 589 expansions as a possibility, but maintained it would be highly unlikely.
“If increased funds come into the state treasury maybe there will be an opportunity for widening 589, but it is not a priority of the state at the time and the secretary was asked repeatedly by multiple commissioners at that meeting, which, by the way, Tom Wilson was not there.
“Quite truthfully those priorities could change,” Bertino said. “If we get new leadership in Annapolis – if we get a Republican governor or a Republican legislature – they may change the priorities of the Department of Transportation. But to suggest that the county is not doing anything is just flat out wrong.”
County Commissioners, said Bertino, do not build state roads.
“It’s very frustrating,” he said. “We’ve done everything that we can, but the ball is not in our court. The cost of doing this project – 330 million – is almost twice what our county budget is.”
Wilson called the $330 million estimate “silly.”
“It’s not going to cost anywhere near that,” he said. “Looking at the big interchange they’re going to build in Centerville, it’s going to cost just about $50 million and that’s on a bigger road. All we have is one little interchange at 50 and then we have to build a bridge at the creek. Other than that, it’s just three miles of widening. I think it’s going to be a lot less — $100 million or less is much closer.”
The state’s current priority project, widening Rt. 113, began in 1971, making 589 expansions in the near future seem unlikely. Other areas, including Rt. 90 and the Rt. 50 Bridge, also need attention.
Still, Wilson insisted widening 589 was of paramount importance.
“I think 589 is part of a whole network of roads that are fragile, at best,” Wilson said. “Rt. 90 and Rt. 50 and 589 form an important connection for people going to and from Ocean City. The first thing we need to do is double up 589 – make it four lanes – so there’s a good connection. And then we need to work with the people in Ocean City to get funding for those other two roads so we can have a robust transportation network in the northern part of the county.”
Wilson said 589 was a “health and safety issue” for people in Ocean Pines.
“It’s how ambulances get from Ocean Pines to Atlantic General,” he said. “There’s no way out of this community without going on 589 – either across it or along it.”
Bertino remained unconvinced.
“I think people understand that there is a difference in what (Wilson) is saying and what has actually happened,” he said. “I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but I have been down there for years and I have seen the current commissioners and past commissioners fight every time the (Transportation) Secretary comes in to talk about the priorities for State Highway. It’s been brought up repeatedly.”