Anderton Jr. working to bring funds to fix roads back to local municipalities

As local roads continue to fall into worse and worse condition citizens like Louise Hearne in Salisbury are wondering why their roads aren't being fixed.  

It turns out they may have to look no further than Annapolis.  

As Julia Glanz, new city administrator for the city of Salisbury explains money from highway user revenues used to come into local municipalities to pay for road work, but that changed under the O'Malley administration when the percentage cities received from Highway User Revenues was slashed.
 
"Since 2009 we've lost over $7 million dollars of funding that we should have been getting all along and that all should have gone to our roads," Glanz said. "These are dollars that citizens in Salisbury and other cities have already paid through their gas tax through their motor vehicle administration fees."
 
This week Glanz testified before the House Environment and Transportation Committee speaking in favor of legislation that would restore those revenues back to local municipalities.  

As she explains if Salisbury had that money projects like the renovations on Main Street could have been started sooner. Instead street repairs on roads such as Mill Street and Beaglin Park Dr. have been put off something people like Hearne know all too well.  

Hearne walks almost daily and says Beaglin Park Dr.  is one of the worst in her mind because of the potholes.
 
"They're dangerous as they are and not only with throwing your car out of alignment and whatever sometimes you can have an accident too just trying to pull out of the way of the pothole when you see it," Hearne said.
 
Delegate Carl Anderton Jr. said he's doing all he can get to the measure passed this year. 

"You're putting gravel everywhere and all the gravel does is eat away at the rest of the road surface and you know you're trying to patch sidewalks that you know in two years you're going to have to come re-patch because you can't do it right cause you don't have the funding available so it's tough, it's absolutely tough," Anderton Jr. said.

Currently there are two bills seeking to restore a percentage of the those highway user revenues back to local municipalities, both are in the house's environment and transportation committee. Anderton Jr. said he's hopeful one of the two will pass.