Extending the Metro into downtown Columbia could solve potential traffic woes.
“If extending Metro is done right, it could be the solution the developers need in order to develop the land in downtown Columbia,” said Columbia resident Evan Coren, who presented a plan on his blog.
This issue has been kicked around by officials since April.
State Del. Liz Bobo, D-Howard County, pushed the state to fund a study to investigate extending the Metro?s Green Line to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and add a stop in downtown Columbia. The plan was intended to address the influx of federal jobs at Fort Meade and to make the airport more accessible.
Maryland Department of Transportation spokeswoman Aaron Henson said the study is under way, but did not know when it would be completed.
Bobo said she pushed for the study to see if the Columbia stop was possible.
“It?s worthwhile since the state is doing the study for BWI,” Bobo said. “It will give us a clearer idea to what we should be doing on there. The study might come out and say it?s not feasible, but who knows.”
Coren?s proposal, which has not been officially presented, suggests a massive extension of Metro?s Green and Yellow lines north, through Columbia and into Ellicott City.
An additional local circuit would start in the west at Harper?s Choice, extend east to Long Gate, south to Elkhorn, and west to River Hill.
Coren, who works for National Security Council as a document declassifier, said the key to implementing the plan is ridership density, which will be increased by an extensive plan, rather than just adding one stop on the Green Line in Columbia.
“As you get further out on a line, ridership density will drop off if it is solely a commuter line, thus the case for a commuter line is often scoffed at,” his proposal says.
“If you create a system that is both a commuter and internal transit system, we increase ridership density on the system.”
But because the cost of building Metro lines is estimated to be between $350 million and $1 billion per mile, such a plan could be out of reach, Bobo said.
“In all of this planning, we have to insert some common sense,” she said.
