After Maryland Goveror Larry Hogan announced plans to improve Baltimore’s bus system last week, many prominent local Democrats like Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said it wasn’t a replacement for the Red Line. This week, another Dem offered up his own set of priorities to Hogan.
Hogan’s BaltimoreLink plans call for an additional $135 million into the city’s bus system. That would provide new bus routes, “transit hubs” and technology to be added to the current system. Given Hogan’s decision to axe the $2.9 billion Red Line (and $900 million in federal funding that went with it), Dems are saying more could be done. Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz sent a letter to Hogan calling for an option that’s Red Line-esque.
Chief among Kamenetz’s asks is an “east and west” solution. He’s calling for a “rail or rapid bus transit link starting from Woodlawn,” which extends through a transit hub at Lexington Market, where it could connect with other transit like light rail and metro. Kamenetz said that plan would effectively eliminate the costly downtown tunnel portion of the Red Line, which was figured to be a big reason that Hogan shelved the project.
Read Kamenetz’s full letter. And if you want some bedside reading, the Baltimore Metropolitan Council released an 11-page report full of transit recommendations.
