FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Contact:
Rocky Moretti (202) 262-0714 (cell)
Carolyn Bonifas Kelly (703) 801-9212 (cell)
Click here for the full report, news conference recording and infographics.
DRIVERS IN MARYLAND’S DC SUBURBS LOSE MORE THAN $3,500 PER YEAR DRIVING ON ROADS THAT ARE ROUGH, CONGESTED & LACK SOME DESIRABLE SAFETY FEATURES – $12.5 BILLION STATEWIDE
Bethesda, MD – Roads and bridges that are deteriorated, congested or lack some desirable safety features cost Maryland motorists a total of $12.5 billion statewide annually – $3,545 per driver in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC – due to higher vehicle operating costs, traffic crashes and congestion-related delays. A lack of adequate investment in transportation and increasing inflation in construction costs could hamper Maryland’s ability to make needed improvements to its transportation network, according to a new report released today by TRIP, a Washington, DC, based national transportation research nonprofit.
The TRIP report, “Maryland Transportation by the Numbers: Providing a Modern, Sustainable Transportation System in the Old Line State,” finds that throughout Maryland, more than half of major locally and state-maintained roads are in poor or mediocre condition, four percent of locally and state-maintained bridges (20 feet or more in length) are rated poor/structurally deficient, traffic congestion is choking commuting and commerce, and the number of traffic fatalities has increased significantly in the last decade. In addition to statewide data, the TRIP report includes regional pavement and bridge conditions, congestion data, highway safety data, and cost breakdowns for the Baltimore and Frederick/Hagerstown urban areas and the Maryland portion of the Washington, DC suburbs.
Driving on roads in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC costs the average driver $3,545 per year in the form of extra vehicle operating costs (VOC) as a result of driving on roads in need of repair, lost time and fuel due to congestion-related delays, and the costs of traffic crashes in which the lack of adequate roadway safety features, while not the primary factor, likely were a contributing factor. A breakdown of the costs per motorist in the state’s largest urban areas, along with a statewide total, is below.
Without additional transportation funding at the local, state and federal levels, costs to motorists will increase, needed projects will be delayed and the existing transportation funding shortfall will grow. The Maryland Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) six-year capital spending plan shows that MDOT’s operating costs and spending outpace revenue by $1.3 billion. Revenue from Maryland’s motor fuel tax — a primary transportation funding source — is falling behind future needs as improved fuel efficiency and growing electric and hybrid vehicle use reduce gas tax collections. At the same time, inflation has significantly increased highway construction costs. The Federal Highway Administration’s national highway construction cost index rose 47 percent from early 2022 through the first half of 2025, significantly reducing the purchasing power of available transportation dollars.
“Interstate 81 is one of the most important freight corridors on the East Coast, yet Maryland’s 12-mile stretch still lacks the capacity needed to safely handle today’s growing truck traffic,” said Jim Kercheval, executive director of the Greater Hagerstown Committee. “When crashes shut down I-81, trucks flood onto our local roads, paralyzing our community and disrupting the regional economy. Adding a third lane to I-81 has been our county’s top transportation priority for over 25 years, yet we’ve only completed one mile of this twelve-mile Maryland section due to funding limitations.”
The TRIP report finds that 51 percent of major locally and state-maintained roads in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC are in poor or mediocre condition, costing the average motorist an additional $746 each year in extra vehicle operating costs, including accelerated vehicle depreciation, additional repair costs, and increased fuel consumption and tire wear. Statewide, 51 percent of Maryland’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition.
In the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, four percent of bridges are rated poor/structurally deficient, with significant deterioration to the bridge deck, supports or other major components. Statewide, four percent of Maryland’s bridges are rated poor/structurally deficient.
Traffic congestion in Maryland’s Washington, DC suburbs causes 90 annual hours of delay for the average motorist and costs the average driver $2,281 annually in lost time and wasted fuel. Suburban Maryland drivers waste an average of 26 gallons of fuel per motorist annually due to congestion. Statewide, drivers lose $6.1 billion annually as a result of lost time and wasted fuel due to traffic congestion. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, vehicle travel in Maryland dropped by as much as 47 percent in April 2020 (as compared to vehicle travel during the same month the previous year). By 2025, vehicle miles of travel in Maryland had rebounded to four percent below 2019’s pre-pandemic levels.
“Fourteen people have died on Maryland’s stretch of I-81 in the last five years as truck traffic has grown and congestion has worsened,” said Kercheval. “The tragic human toll is reason enough to act, but even the federal economic analysis shows the short and long-term costs of these crashes exceeds the cost of adding a third lane to improve safety forever.”
Traffic crashes in Maryland claimed the lives of 3,435 people from 2019 to 2024. In the decade from 2014 to 2024 the number of traffic fatalities in Maryland and the state’s traffic fatality rate both increased 31 percent. In the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, on average, 157 people were killed in traffic crashes each year from 2019 to 2023. The financial impact of traffic crashes in which the lack of adequate roadway safety features, while not the primary factor, were likely a contributing factor, was an average of $518 annually per each driver in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC – a total of $2.7 billion statewide.
“If we want Harford County to remain a premier go-to destination for Maryland tourism, we cannot ask our visitors to navigate a system that costs them time, money, and safety,” said Tyler Zeisloft, executive director of Visit Harford. “A smooth, safe, and efficient network isn’t just a luxury—it is the essential infrastructure required to keep our $510 million county-wide tourism economy from stalling out.”
The efficiency and condition of Maryland’s transportation system, particularly its highways, is critical to the health of the state’s economy. In 2024 Maryland’s freight system moved 308 million tons of freight, valued at $387 billion. From 2024 to 2050, freight moved annually in Maryland by trucks is expected to increase 55 percent by weight and 101 percent by value (inflation-adjusted dollars). The design, construction and maintenance of transportation infrastructure in Maryland supports approximately 77,800 full-time jobs across all sectors of the state economy. Approximately one million full-time jobs in Maryland in key industries like tourism, retail sales, agriculture and manufacturing are dependent on the quality, safety and reliability of the state’s transportation infrastructure network.
“Maryland’s transportation dollars are already being stretched thin by increased inflation in construction costs, and the state’s existing transportation funding shortfall will make it harder to complete needed improvements,” said Dave Kearby, TRIP’s executive director. “It will be critical that Maryland adequately invest in its transportation network in order to provide a system that is smooth, safe and efficient.”