Feb 20 2008
Dixon Places Emphasis on Red Line Project
Finally a politician is putting an emphasis on public transportation in Baltimore.? If only such an urgency was in place 20-30 years ago, we wouldn’t have this mish-mash mess of transportation systems that connect poorly to each other (if at all).? ? Even though it’s the “in” thing to do (considering gas prices, global warming, pollution, etc…) at least someone is doing SOMEthing.? ?
Shiela Dixon? took the next step in the Red Line project? today? by appointing a liaison to resolve community concerns and presumably help push the project forward.? Mayor Dixion said the Red Line was one of her top priorities.?
? The Red Line has gained some opposition, particularly from residents of Fells Point who can bear to see Alice Anna and Fleet turned into one way streets while trying to jam a light rail down the middle.?
A Canton resident myself, I would love to be able to hop on a train and make it downtown in 5 minutes without having to pay $25 for parking, but I do share some of the same concerns of my neighbors in Fells Point.?
I happened upon an interesting post from a fellow blogger at baltimoreinnerspace that proposed extending the current Metro, which currently ends at Hopkins Hospital, to Canton Crossing (Ed Hale’s new mixed use development on Boston St.)? instead of building the new Red Line.? Although it bypasses Fells Point and the Main Part of Canton, it would pass through areas that have a great amount of potential for future development.? It doesn’t seem like a bad idea.? Check out his post here:
http://baltimoreinnerspace.blogspot.com/2006/10/red-line-should-turn-green-running-red.html
? I’m interested to hear what people think.? Post a comment if you have an opinion.? If you want to share your opinion with the city, there will be a community meeting on May 10th, 2008? from 9am to 1pm at the Baltimore Convention Center.?
To learn more about the Red Line, visit http://www.baltimoreredline.com/
Proposed Red Line Route:
6 Comments to “Dixon Places Emphasis on Red Line Project”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Seems like you completely lose whitemarsh then. I would like that subway extended to whietmarsh. but (besides money) why not have a second subway line. if we’re going to put that much money and traffic changes etc putting in light rail, I would think that subway would be a better alternative. have a second line going from eastpoint mall through the city (perhaps 3 common stops.. shot tower, charles st, and lexington mkt), and then go either down towards columbia, or out along 40 to ellicott city (either way, going through umbc)
a single line subway is still a joke. always has been. add another line. for me, ideally, i would replace that light rail with a subway line, but that’s just me.
I think the main problem with the red line is that doesn’t integrate well with existing transit.
Transfers kill transit ridership. Just an anecdote, but hardly anyone in my neighborhood take the subway regularly. It is just too hard — in Central Baltimore (I’m in Charles Village) — to get to (one must either go into town and then back out, or endure a bus ride across town to reach the metro).
More integration with major transit centers is needed — Camden Yards and Penn Station.
My dream would be the red line and a partial build of the yellow line. In particular, the portion of the yellow line that would create stops for Penn Station, Mt. Vernon and the Inner Harbor. Then commuters and residents could, without an overwhelming amount of difficulty, walking or busing, transfer between the metro, light rail, MARC, etc.
A step in the right direction hopefully, but we really have so far to go. Connecting East (Canton) to West (Downtown or MARC) seems to be imperative.
Offhand I can’t think of a smarter real estate buy than to buy a property around where you think they’ll build a subway stop sometime in the future. Saw it happen a lot in DC.
I think that the red line alignment is a godo one. But I honestly think the green line extension from JHH to a proposed marc rail stop just north as part of the EBDI projects will happen first. (1) Its in an area with no resdents to oppose it becuase they all got relocated as part of the project. (2) It will be done quickly because its a short run. (3) A new marc station there connected to the subway may get alot of cars off of I-95 by having DT commuters use marc – subway to get to the CBD. And maybe the most awesomest contractor in teh world, Whiting Turner will get to bulid it.
What if you built the yellow line portion as mentioned by melissa above as a metro, and merge the line with the current metro at either lexington market or charles center, sharing stations then at lexington market/charles ctr/shot tower and branch off again to run as a metro along one of the red line routes (or a third alternative such as eastern )