A revamped Red Line plan could work in Baltimore

Transportation is in a bad way in Baltimore. A few months ago, Maryland Sen. Bill Ferguson strongly criticized Baltimore City’s Department of Transportation for failing to submit a list of requests for transit projects to the state. Reconstruction and modernization of the Howard Street Tunnel has been put on hold by CSX. Traffic congestion is a persistent problem, and light rail ridership is among the weakest in the country. Many bus patrons have expressed displeasure with the bus system overhaul.

The elephant in the room, however, continues to be the cancellation of the proposed Red Line and its aftermath. When Gov. Larry Hogan canceled the project in June 2015, both he and Maryland Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn cited the huge cost of constructing a downtown tunnel. Reacting to the cancellation in late 2015, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF) and allied groups filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation. The complaint alleged that the cancellation of the Red Line was discriminatory against African-Americans; it was dismissed in July of last year.

The LDF complaint alleged that the Red Line would have provided improved transit to underserved African-American neighborhoods of East and West Baltimore. While the Red Line would have served several impoverished black neighborhoods in West Baltimore, the eastern leg of the line would have primarily served affluent white areas along the waterfront.

Rejection of the Red Line does not mean that the only alternative is no new light rail line.