Earlier this week, a group of municipal, county and state leaders came together in Annapolis to discuss the importance of regional partnerships and regional priorities in our One Maryland approach to BRAC, a lesson we learned from all of you here in the tri-county region.
We recognize what’s on the horizon, we understand our responsibility, and we’re ready.
And today, we’re celebrating the completion and the opening of one of Southern Maryland’s most important regional priorities from the earlier BRAC decisions that brought thousands of new jobs to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station.
This ramp is the final piece of a $56 million project that will ease the strain on Southern Maryland’s roads and provide relief to the residents of Charles County and to all the commuters that travel to Washington or to Pax River, taking 61,000 people off of the local and neighborhood roads that have been pushed far beyond capacity.
And we’re working hard and smart each day to build and improve Maryland’s transportation infrastructure to successfully prepare for the latest round of BRAC decisions.
In the coming years, we expect BRAC to bring as many as 60,000 direct and indirect jobs, include 400 direct jobs at Andrews Air Force Base, and 28,000 households to Maryland.
And I can promise that today’s ribbon-cutting will shortly be followed by many others: in Southern Maryland; in Aberdeen; inside the Capital and Baltimore Beltways; and along the Ft. Meade corridor.
We are ready to welcome our new neighbors with open arms.
A few miles up the road we’ve invested $92 million in the interchange at Route 4 and Suitland Parkway near Andrews Air Force Base.
And we’ve allocated $51 million for improvements to the interchanges at Route 5 and the Beltway near the Branch Avenue Metro Station.
As the BRAC Subcabinet continues to look at the big picture, prioritizing at a local and regional level, we are investing in the educational, the economic, and the structural infrastructure to sustain our workforce and enhance our opportunities.
And while we grow, we will continue to focus on achieving balance in our transportation solution to grow smartly.
We are looking for new ways to improve transit, from MARC upgrades, investments in Metro, to more flexible solutions like commuter buses and carpooling.
Along those lines, I’m proud that we’re announcing the dedication of the La Plata Park-and-Ride lot, the first of six new lots to be built as a part of the Southern Maryland Commuter Bus Initiative.
Congressman Hoyer— thank you for your leadership that helped bring Federal support for this initiative to Southern Maryland.
Southern Maryland remains a star example of how flexible transit options, like the commuter bus service, can give residents an easy ride to work and reduce congestion on our roadways.
Ridership in Southern Maryland is up nearly 40 percent since 2003; and we now have 105 roundtrips each day.
I’m looking forward to seeing more of these lots open, opening more opportunities for Southern Marylanders to take advantage of commuter-friendly transit options—especially those who will be commuting to BRAC-related jobs at Andrews, Ft. Meade and PAX River.
I want to quickly thank the Southern Maryland Delegation and Congressman Hoyer for their leadership and their wisdom.
The BRAC Subcabinet will continue to lean on your expertise to help us develop a final Action Plan that’ll be presented to Governor O’Malley December 1st.
Again, in order to put that plan together and form regional priorities, we will follow the example of the Southern Maryland tri-county region to work across party lines, beyond local and county borders and against the tide of what often appears to be local competition toward common goals for One Maryland.
And those goals cannot be anything short of success.
Thank you.