The gas-tax increase in Maryland will be gradual, starting in July and ending three years later, but is expected to generate $1.2 billion in transportation improvements over the next six years.
The first phase of the spike will be 4 cents a gal, and when it is over Maryland’s gas tax will sit at 19.5 cents. The move will pay for weekend MARC service between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and officials recently released a list of nine other projects it will fund:
- $60 million for the reconstruction and bridge replacement of the I-695 Leeds Avenue Interchange in Baltimore County;
- $49 million to widen U.S. 29 northbound to three lanes near S.R. 175 and create sound walls in Howard County;
- $450 million for final design of extending the Red Line from Baltimore County through the city of Baltimore and creating a Purple Line in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties;
- $44 million for road improvements near Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County;
- $82 million to construct U.S. 15 and Monocacy Blvd. Interchange in Frederick County;
- $20 million to design a new Thomas Johnson Bridge across the Patuxent River in southern Maryland;
- $54 million for a new interchange at U.S. 301 and S.R. 304 in Queen Anne’s County;
- $125 million to build a I-270 interchange at Watkins Mill Road in Montgomery County; and
- $100 million to build a new interchange at Indian Head Highway and Livingston Road in Prince George’s County.
