A proposed transit corridor in Montgomery County could serve as a vital transportation option in an ever-growing traffic nightmare surrounding Interstate 270.
Maryland transportation officials are studying a 13.5-mile plan for a “Corridor Cities Transitway,” linking the Shady Grove Metro to MARC stations and Rockville, Gaithersburg and Germantown business hubs.
The study also is reviewing using express toll lanes on I-270 to Route 15 in Frederick.
Frederick and Montgomery counties have had a transit way on their Master Plans since the ’70s, said Rick Kiegel, CCT project manager for the Maryland Transit Administration.
The state is looking at running a light rail or bus rapid transit through 13 stops built on the medians of major residential and business developments surrounding I-270, Kiegel said. A detailed environmental analysis will be completed by June 2007.
Maryland has already acquired 35 percent of the land where the transitway would operate. Another 25 percent is protected, but not under public control, he said.
The estimated cost of building a light rail system has decreased from 2001’s price of $926 million to $865 million, said Robert Flanagan, Maryland’s secretary of transportation. The rapid bus system’s cost has also decreased from $856 million to $539 million, he said.
Making the project cost effective is important to getting state support since there will be three major transit projects “smacking the state in the face” around the same time frame of 2010 or 2011, Flanagan said.
The study also includes the addition of one or two lanes in each direction of I-270 for toll lanes to be added that would give drivers an option for uncongested travel for a fee, said Neil Pedersen, administrator of Maryland State Highway Administration. The lanes are expected to cost some $2 billion, he said.
The express lanes would provide the opportunity for a premium bus service on I-270, Flanagan said.
