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Regional transportation group shifts focus
to mass transit
Area leaders will allocate $340 million to rails, buses
By Erin
Cox and Liam Farrell
Capital Newspaper staff writers
July 30, 2008
Leaving
behind a long-standing focus on roads and highways, area transportation
leaders decided to devote $340 million to mass transit in the
Baltimore region, possibly to some projects in Anne Arundel
County. "It's definitely a shift in thinking, and it's a step
in the right direction," said George Cardwell, the head of transportation
planning for Anne Arundel. "If you're really going to make a
serious commitment to transit, you have to start somewhere."
The Baltimore
Regional Transportation Board voted last week to devote to mass
transit money that had not already been earmarked in its 20-year
transportation plan called Transportation Outlook 2035. The
tax increases passed last fall by the General Assembly generated
the extra dollars, and the move to incorporate the funds into
mass transit came after citizens and transportation planners
complained about the lopsided focus on roads. In the current
plan, $8.7 billion has been set aside for expanding the region's
transportation network, with a total of $2.2 billion earmarked
for transit projects. The board is recognized by the federal
government as the chief planning body for transportation in
the Baltimore area. Its members include the mayors of Annapolis
and Baltimore, and the Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Harford and
Howard county executives, the Carroll County commissioners and
state transportation officials.
"On an annual
basis, it's not a lot of money," Mr. Cardwell explained. "I
don't want to dismiss it as symbolic, because it's not. But
it's not a lot of money. The projects that benefit from something
like that are projects that don't cost a lot of money." Possible
projects in Anne Arundel could include upgraded buses, bus shelters
and additional routes from Annapolis to Columbia by way of Fort
Meade or Annapolis to Baltimore by way of Glen Burnie. The most
likely candidate is an upgrade of the MARC station in Odenton
and an enhancement of surrounding transit options to accommodate
the more than 10,000 jobs expected in the area over the next
few years. "Projects like these are less expensive to begin
with, but shows a commitment to transit," Mr. Cardwell said,
adding that in Anne Arundel 95 percent of travel is done on
highways, and residents seeking respite from rising gas prices
have stopped driving rather than getting on public transportation.
Increasing
transportation funding has been a priority of Gov. Martin O'Malley's
administration that took on new urgency following the collapse
of the Interstate 35 bridge in Minnesota last year. Following
the sales and titling tax hikes approved during November's special
session, Mr. O'Malley was planning on boosting overall transportation
spending by $270 million in fiscal 2009. However, the decision
to repeal a sales tax on computer services this year means $50
million will be taken out of the transportation trust fund annually
over the next five years. The state's transportation department
has begun studying what projects will have to be put off to
account for the money. The new money does not appear to be much
in terms of the large-scale costs of transit projects such as
rail lines, said Harvey S. Bloom, the director of transportation
for the Baltimore Metropolitan Council. However, the significance
of the maneuver is in terms of its approach rather than its
dollar amount, he said. "It's not a solution, it is the beginning
of a total process," he said.
Transportation
budgets cannot solely go to either road or transit projects
in the future, said Jack Cahalan, a spokesman for the state
Department of Transportation, but it is imperative to "(level)
the playing field" between those interests. "What is important
is to look at the decision and the message it sends," he said.
"You are seeing a focus on transit on both the state level and
now the local leader level." Annapolis Mayor Ellen O. Moyer,
who is a voting member of the BRTB, said transit and connectivity
is the greatest and growing need for the system as a whole right
now. "Transit is the most compelling need," Ms. Moyer said.
"Connectivity for bus routes, meeting up with trains and connecting
for pedestrian and bicycles. We don't have a very good transit
system in the state, and the region recognized this."
Staff Writer
Elisha Sauers contributed to this report.
Published
July 30, 2008, The Capital, Annapolis, Md. Copyright © 2008
The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
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