Officials expressed relief after a draft version of Maryland’s next transportation spending plan came out this week.

New fees and tax tweaks passed by the General Assembly this spring helped balance the ledgers for coming years, putting the Maryland Department of Transportation on more solid ground than in previous years.

The Consolidated Transportation Program charts a six-year vision for spending $21.5 billion on expanding roadways, buying new buses, paving airport runways and much more. Updated each year and finalized in the spring, the budget plan is ultimately incorporated into the governor’s budget.

“We know that there will always be additional unmet needs, we know there will always be more that we want to do, but the program in front of us today I think sets an important baseline for where we need to head,” acting Transportation Secretary Samantha Biddle told the Baltimore Regional Transit Commission last week.

Here are initial takeaways from the massive draft document:

Business, somehow, as usual

After years of project deferrals and creative budgeting, plus the loud threat of cutbacks in federal funding, this draft document is — perhaps incredibly — normal.

There’s a roughly 1% spending increase. That’s modest and likely doesn’t cover inflation, but an increase nonetheless.

The spending breakdown — 39% for preserving existing assets, 30% for local governments, 16% for expansion and so on — tracks with the previous years, as does the allocation for road or highway projects compared with public transit.

On the state side of the ledger, new taxes and fees mean $400 million a year in additional funds, which unlocks an added $700 million annually in federal funding for qualifying projects.

Federal aid remains the largest source of funds. All the bluster — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s threat not to fund states against the immigration crackdown or President Donald Trump’s social media threat to withhold money for the Key Bridge rebuild — means little when it comes to congressionally appropriated money.

The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill remains the law until 2027. Congress will have to pass a new “reauthorization” law that sets formula and grant funding.

A big year for Complete Streets

The state transportation department has tried to rekindle its approach to safety after a surge in roadway fatalities during the pandemic.

One result is a revamped Complete Streets policy, an approach to designing and redesigning roads that emphasizes pedestrian and cyclist safety along with public transit access over cars.

This draft budget includes $188 million for Complete Streets, a “full funding of the program,” Biddle said.

That money will go to projects such as rebuilding a section of Belair Road in Eastern Baltimore County and making safety improvements along U.S. 1 in Howard County.

That’s part of $538 million of projects that contain some kind of bicycle or pedestrian upgrade, everything from new sidewalks to upgraded bike lanes, representing a 15% increase from the current budget.

And the Port of Baltimore

This budget fully funds the rebuild of Berth 11 at Dundalk Marine Terminal, where hundreds of thousands of imported cars first touch U.S. soil via the Port of Baltimore.

The rehabilitation of the 60-year-old berth lays the groundwork for a phased rebuild of berths 12 and 13, at a combined cost of $114 million. It also funds the final year of an ongoing $71 million flood mitigation effort there, along with $23 million to electrify its equipment and let ships connect to shore power.

Federal grants have been critical for the port — a $146 million Environmental Protection Agency grant is helping a broader electrification effort to reduce its carbon footprint.

Step aside, gas tax

The Transportation Trust Fund has a new top dog.

The gas tax, historically the king of highway coffers, was surpassed by the motor vehicle titling tax as the largest source of state transportation revenue. Officials estimate it will generate $8.1 billion over six years.

This marks a sort of canary-in-the-gas-tank moment, after officials said for years that more fuel-efficient and electric vehicles on the roads mean less money generated by the gas tax.

The gas tax isn’t going away, and it will continue to generate billions for years — maybe decades — to come. But the time to start planning to replace it is now.

The big projects

Nothing has changed regarding the estimated cost to replace the Key Bridge, a $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion figure that officials will update once the bridge design is final. Congress has approved reimbursing the full cost.

Officials said previously that the replacement bridge will be open to motorists by the end of 2028. For those dealing with increased traffic crossing the harbor, that date can’t come soon enough.

Updates to the cost estimate and timeline “are under development,” wrote Bradley Tanner, spokesperson for the Maryland Transportation Authority, which owns the bridge and the project.

While the bridge is forging ahead, the Red Line, Baltimore’s proposed east-west light rail, doesn’t have much of a timeline. Planning and engineering funds are there, but nothing is allocated for construction through 2031. That, of course, could change, but the deck certainly feels stacked against it for building soon.

When and where to weigh in

Every year, leaders of each transportation subagency visit with all of Maryland’s local jurisdictions to present the draft six-year plan and field questions from lawmakers and residents.

The roadshow kicked off last week with a presentation at the Baltimore Regional Transit Commission, the only non-jurisdiction-specific presentation. Next up is Baltimore on Monday.

Dates, times and locations for the rest of the presentations are available here.