Wes Moore to relaunch Baltimore’s Red Line, but big questions remain

Key questions remain about how the project will be paid for and what it will entail — including whether it will be light rail as originally envisioned or a rapid bus system.

But Moore, who campaigned on building the Red Line, plans to start community meetings next month for feedback on those questions ahead of seeking federal funding by the end of next year, according to Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld.

“The governor is telling us to go,” Wiedefeld said in an interview.

He said the state would reexamine whether the project should stretch farther into the Baltimore County suburbs to reach Sparrow’s Point, home to Trade Point Atlantic and the big Amazon fulfillment center built on what eight years ago was the abandoned site of Bethlehem Steel.

Wiedefeld said the state also must realign the Red Line’s path given the development that has happened in the corridor since it was designed, and consider whether to stick with costly plans to tunnel under downtown. He said it was too soon to determine the revamp’s cost, but estimated it would be “several billions.”

Asked how much of the existing plan could be salvaged, Wiedefeld said, “We feel quite a bit.”

“We’re not reinventing the wheel here,” he added.

Back in 2015, the $2.9 billion project had spent more than a dozen years in development, sparked a gas tax increase to help pay for it, secured a critical federal environment approval and was in line to receive more than $900 million in federal funding.

But then-governor Larry Hogan (R) canceled it a few months into his first term, calling the plan “a wasteful boondoggle” and sending earmarked resources to transportation projects elsewhere in Maryland.

The decision came as Baltimore reeled from the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody and the subsequent public unrest. The Obama administration investigated whether the Red Line cancellation was a civil rights violation, but never brought action against the state.

Hogan defended his decision throughout his tenure, arguing the plan that tunneled under parts of West Baltimore and downtown was unworkable. In addition to the federal funding Hogan walked away from, more than $300 million had already been spent planning the Red Line. Baltimore’s political leaders and residents lamented the disinvestment for years.

After studying numerous options, Maryland officials had selected light rail and their preferred route back in 2009. In 2013, federal officials approved crucial environmental documentation for the 14-mile, 19-station line stretching from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services headquarters in Baltimore County to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore City. That was the decision that set up Maryland to receive $900 million from the Federal Transit Administration.

Five years later, many across Baltimore bitterly lament Gov. Hogan’s decision to kill the Red Line light rail

Today, Biden administration officials say the 2021 infrastructure law, with more than $90 billion in guaranteed funding for public transportation, represents the biggest transit investment in U.S. history.

But there is still stiff competition for federal dollars supporting multibillion-dollar projects such as the Red Line, and federal officials have said Maryland would not jump to the front of the line.

Instead, the state would face federal environmental and other assessments that, in some cases, can take years.

The Federal Transit Administration had said that if plans for a rebooted Red Line were similar to earlier ones approved by Washington, “a significant portion” of Maryland’s design plans might still be usable.

Wiedefeld said the community engagement process will weigh light rail against rapid bus transit, considering how to most expeditiously serve a community that he said has long been left behind.

Purple Line will open 4½ years late and cost $1.4 billion more to complete, state says

This is a developing story. It will be updated.