Construction on the proposed Red Line connecting Western Baltimore County with the city is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2010, with the first riders in 2014 ? but the planning is very much in the discovery stage.
The Baltimore County Planning Board heard a presentation Thursday exploring light rail, bus and subway alternatives from Ezio Ross, a consultant with the Woodlawn Community Education and Development Association, and Dan Pontious, regional policy director with the Baltimore-based Citizens Planning and Housing Association. Ross, who visited Denver?s mass-transit system, and Pontious, who went to Boston, are part of the Maryland Transit Authority?s effort to include citizen and stakeholder groups in planning a project that likely will cost between $700 million and $2 billion.
Ross, a pastor who has lived in the Woodlawn area for nearly three decades, said a mass-transit system connecting Baltimore could revitalize the community. But he stressed neighborhood groups must participate in the planning. “If we only bring people in after the environmental impact draft is done [scheduled for next fall], it?s too late,” Ross said.
Ross said that a permanent light-rail station in Woodlawn would attract businesses and become a focal point for a new village or town center. The most likely scenario is a light rail or dedicated rapid-bus service with stops from Security Mall and the Social Security Administration, through Edmondson Village, the West Baltimore MARC station, the University of Maryland Medical System, to downtown, Canton and Fells Point. “Route 40 is a congested corridor,” Pontious said. “This project, with affordable housing, could bring people and more economic growth to the area without more traffic congestion.”
