Baltimore has on its drawing board two major public works projects with economically transformative potential — the highway work related to the redevelopment of Port Covington and the expansion of the Howard Street Tunnel. That neither of these proposals qualified this week for federal funding under a U.S. Department of Transportation program specifically targeted at the transportation needs of urban areas is unfortunate but hardly the last word on either of these worthy efforts.

On some level, all that has happened is that the Baltimore area lost out in the highly competitive effort to secure funding under a program known as FASTLANE. The program had $800 million to dispense and $9.8 billion in proposed spending by 200 applicants across the country. Losing wasn't exactly an oddity — Maryland had plenty of company.

But here's the bottom line: The federal fiscal year starts in less than three months, and the Baltimore projects will undoubtedly be back in the queue for the next round. As swell as it might have been to have the money in hand today and not a year from now (at best), these are projects with pretty long horizons — Port Covington, for example, is not expected to be fully developed for 20 years or more. This is a setback, not a tragedy.

Still, it's always educational to see the finger-pointing break out whenever an application for federal funds falls short. Gov. Larry Hogan blames the Obama administration for not recognizing the significant economic needs of Baltimore and, as a spokesman points out, “withholding federal assistance that could make a real difference to the future of the city.”

Actually, what Hogan spokesman Matthew Clark should have added was, “and trust us, we know what it's like to withhold money from the city,” having stopped the proposed Red Line in its tracks, a $2.9 billion, 16-mile light rail project effectively canceled permanently within two months of the Freddie Gray unrest. The Obama administration's one-year rejection of a mere $231 million in combined federal spending seems like small potatoes in comparison.

In reality, at least two factors seem to have played an outsized role in Maryland's rejection. First is a failure to set priorities. As any veteran of the federal grant-making process will tell you, applicants fare best when they can set one top priority, not multiple ones. In this case, Maryland should have indicated that the renovation of the Howard Street Tunnel was of primary importance and Port Covington was of secondary interest.

That's not a knock against Port Covington and Sagamore Development; it's simply a recognition that the tunnel is the more immediate need. In its current state, the 121-year-old landmark is a nightmare for the Port of Baltimore, an East Coast freight bottleneck. Add 18 inches of extra clearance, as CSX has proposed, and suddenly you can double-stack trains and create a $2 billion opportunity — and accomplish this all within six years. Governor Hogan and Maryland's congressional delegation should have recognized this fact.

We continue to reserve judgment about Port Covington's tax increment financing proposal and the yet-to-be-revealed details of the community benefits agreement that will accompany it, but there's no question the project itself has the potential to be an economic boon to Baltimore. Regardless, how soon does the development actually need those proposed federally funded ramps coming off Interstate 95? With a 20-year-long build-out time frame, surely there is more wiggle room there.

Meanwhile, the cancellation of the Red Line probably didn't help Maryland's applications either. As Rep. Elijah E. Cummings has pointed out, the sudden choice to back out of such an ambitious project already well along in the federal approval process didn't help Mr. Hogan's credibility with DOT. Rejection of these latest applications isn't necessarily a tit-for-tat but simply demonstrates a loss of confidence that Maryland is a trustworthy partner and that such projects will be followed to fruition.

The obvious comparison is with one of Governor Hogan's heroes, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey who six years ago canceled plans for a new $8.7 billion commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson River on the grounds that his state might be saddled with potential cost overruns. The result? Conditions in the existing tunnels (since damaged by Hurricane Sandy) have only gotten worse, and New Jersey now seems stuck in the slow lane for federal approval of major transportation projects of all kinds, including any potential Hudson River crossing.

Still, all is not lost. Officials should ask federal authorities for a debriefing and find out where their applications fell short and correct them. Next year, Mr. Hogan should make Howard Street his top priority for FASTLANE funds. He should make that point clear to the delegation and assure CSX that the state is all aboard its National Gateway project. As for the Red Line, the governor will just have to recognize that such a major self-administered wound takes time to heal.