An Anne Arundel state senator wants to know if mass transit rail lines could be extended to Annapolis for the first time in decades.
“Given the nature of commuting from Annapolis to where people work, there isn?t sufficient access to mass transit,” said bill sponsor Sen. John Astle, D-District 30.
The bill would have the state Department of Transportation hire a group to study rail options to connect the state?s capital to the major rail systems of MARC, Baltimore City?s light rail and Washington, D.C.?s Metro.
Astle said the Annapolis City Council first broached the subject. He said Annapolis is “landlocked” from mass transit options.
But the bill does not have the backing of the Maryland Transit Administration, which testified against the bill Tuesday before the Senate Finance Committee.
The bill?s approval would put the plan ahead of other projects on the state?s transportation priority list, said Jim Knighton, MTA?s director of external affairs.
“To receive federal funding, we have to consider a range of alternatives,” not just rail, Knighton said.
But Sen. Delores Kelley, D-Baltimore County, disagreed with MTA?s position that all proposals for studies must go through the transportation priority list.
“To say there is something wrong with lawmakers trying to put forth a study is backward thinking,” said Kelley.
Annapolis was once served by the Washington Baltimore and Annapolis Railway, an electric train service that stopped operating in the 1930s. Its right of way belongs to other rail systems or has become roads and trails. The bill also calls for a trolley line along West Street, which connects downtown Annapolis to Route 50.
