On March 9, I testified on Senate Bill 726 which would restore highway user revenue to counties across the state who have lost millions of dollars in infrastructure funding since 2007. There was an enormous bi-partisan turnout from elected officials across the state. The passage of this bill and HB 1187 is critically important.
Anne Arundel County has 6,715 county-maintained roads that equal 1,825 miles.
In the 4 years that I’ve served on the council, complaints of inadequate road resurfacing, potholes, deteriorating road surfaces and aesthetically unappealing end results in a community, is one of the top constituent complaints we receive.
To the credit of our bureau of highways, they are using the “best practices and industry standards” to extend the life of our roads. Our network of local roadways is on life support and the reason is simple. A cumulative loss of over $370 million dollars from the state to Anne Arundel County.
In my time on the council, I’ve learned terms like “cape seal”, “chip seal”, “tar and chip”, and “micro surfacing” in my efforts to address communities frustrated with the roads they are left with after resurfacing. Roads that should be replaced. Our county is using these techniques because of inadequate funding. The results leave community streets pebble covered with residual aggregate, that requires street sweepings which are also funded by the county. Unfortunately, this aggregate does wash into our storm drains despite best efforts and limits the recreational use of our roads, like young children riding on their bikes.
Imagine living in a community with a degrading roadway, and you receive notification that your road is going to be resurfaced by the county. The work is done but you can’t comprehend that what you are left with is what was intended. A road surface that is neither smooth, nor even, and will take months to flatten and cure. That’s what is happening for communities all over our county. Rosslare, Cape St. Claire, Pendennis Mount, Whitehurst, Cypress Creek, Peninsula Farm…I could continue to list the communities I’ve visited who are dealing with the outcome of poorly funded infrastructure maintenance, as our county makes attempts to fill the loss of millions of dollars from the state.
Our constituents don’t care who does the work. They care about safe maintenance of our roads, and we have fallen too short for too long. It is time to get our local roads off life support and reinstate funding to our counties.