Despite Tuesday’s Gonzales Poll showing Gov. Wes Moore’s solidly strong approval ratings across the state, the issue of transportation funding is proving a complicated knot to untie.
Several community and advocacy groups gathered to demand the completion of the Red Line as a 100% Light Rail Transit project (LRT). The Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition (BTEC), CASA, the Climate Communications Coalition, and others penned an open letter to Moore, Maryland’s Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld, and Maryland Transit Administration’s (MTA) Administrator Holly Arnold urging them to proceed with the original LRT project, and calling on Moore to “Put the Shovels in the Ground.”
The LRT project was fully funded and approved until 2015 when then-governor Larry Hogan put a halt to it, returning the federal funding. The group characterized this as a civil rights issue comparable to Jim Crow laws and demanded Moore right what they deemed an “historical injustice.”
“The efficiency and capacity of LRT, along with the economic investment that it attracts, overshadows the effects of Bus Rapid Transit,” said Samuel Jordan, founder of BTEC. “LRT has a return on investment of $4 for every $1 spent through residential and commercial real estate development and would create 10,000 jobs in the construction phase, far exceeding the potential number created with bus rapid transit.”
Maryland is facing budget cuts to transit projects, and as reflected in the Gonzales Poll, residents are at odds on how best to fund the projects. Only 37% of voters support raising the state sales tax from 6% to 7% to fund transportation projects, while 48% said they are “strongly” opposed to such an increase. Furthermore, when asked which they considered the higher priority between funding roads and bridges or mass transit, only 24% considered mass transit the higher priority.
BTEC and their allies argue that the cuts to the transit projects would perpetuate a vicious cycle of cuts in service, reduced reliability, decreased ridership, then further financial deficits. They proposed a solution.
“BTEC and allies propose to break through this cycle with Escape Velocity Revenue Generation (EVRG),” according to the press release calling for action. “By entering the General Obligation Bond market, Maryland can expand access to capital and incentivize private investment through a Transportation Fund that would allow the completion of important transit projects, including the Red Line LRT.”
The group also proposes the creation of a Baltimore Regional Transportation Authority in the manner of Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), which would be a locally controlled organization to develop “an effective multimodal transit system with and for residents.”
“Transit is a pillar of society at the intersection of economy, climate, and social well-being which many communities depend on for access to jobs, healthcare, schools, and political voice,” said Sonia Demiray, of Climate Communications Coalition. “A clean and reliable transit system will help transition the region away from car-centric transportation, which is not accessible to all and produces poor health and environmental outcomes.”
