Are you ready for the Red Line?
May 12, 2008
Ready for that quick trip from Woodlawn to downtown, or from Poppleton to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center? Well, though city and state officials say they could start to move dirt in 2012 for the coveted East-West rail link across Baltimore, it’s still hard to imagine what the Red Line will look like if the project is completed.
Maryland has the money together to plan the line, secure rights of way and start building it. The state plans to spend $239.6 million for all of that, though the money to finish the project has not been identified yet.
And what, exactly, will the Red Line be? We can probably say with more authority what it won’t be. The Red Line will likely not be a subway like the Metro line that runs between Owings Mills and downtown. That option is considered too expensive, and state leaders don’t think there would be enough riders to justify the cost. It probably also won’t be a magnetic levitation train, a monorail or a giant waterslide.
The state is considering more than a dozen configurations of light rail and bus options. One option is to build nothing and try to optimize the road system to accommodate a bus line along the Route 40 corridor. Another envisions light rail running alongside or in the middle of city roads, and then using a tunnel under downtown. The routes for the line are also in flux, with different ideas for what roads the line would use. That didn’t stop people from protesting various options at the Red Line Summit hosted by the city on Saturday.
Mayor Sheila Dixon is trying to get people engaged in the process early, and she seemed to succeed, drawing hundreds to the Baltimore Convention Center Saturday. People are excited about the line, but still uncertain about what to expect and when to expect it.
Do you think the city can sustain the interest, given that we’ll probably have to wait until later this year to find out what the Maryland Department of Transportation thinks about all of the different options? That will come in an environmental document that represents one of the next big steps in the planning process, while Baltimore intends to host a series of community Red Line events over the summer.
What do you think the best setup would be? Do we need the Red Line?
ANDY ROSEN, Business Writer
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No water slide? You just ruined my week.
If they say they plan on moving dirt by 2012, isn’t it safe to assume nothing will happen until 2015 at the earliest, and the project will be done - and outdated - by 2020?
Saturday’s meeting was a farce, less about giving information to people and more about showing MDOT that Baltimore City is a relevant partner in the process.
City officials offered nothing but platitudes and ego stroking. Small meetings devolved into complaints about alignments. No one attended that could or would answer important constituent questions. The end result, a “Citizen’s Compact” was nothing more than the City approaching MDOT and asking for more porridge.
Unfortunately, the desperately needed Red Line is mocked by this proposal. As it stands, this plan connects no one to nothing, the Compact does not address people’s true concerns, and the whole fiasco will be the death knell for transit in this city.
Whatever it is, if it is not well-maintained and clean, it will only attract riff raff. Many of us would not be caught dead or alive on a city bus, the nasty subway, or even the lightrail because they, are dirty, crime ridden, and horrible.
I’m pretty excited about the Red Line. After all, who moves to Fells Point to own 2 or 3 cars and drive everywhere??? And what great city doesnt have a great transit system? We’ve got miles to go in that regard and the Red Line is a good step in the right direction
I love the comments about public transit being dirty and dangerous. Its WAY more dangerous driving your car everywhere. I’ve been taking public transit for years and have never been hassled by anyone. My suggestion to those who hate transit is to shut up and pay your $4 a gallon for gas. The rest of us will be working for better mass transit (like the Red Line).