Highway Construction: Undermining Transit Iniatives

All Photos From Google Earth

Here we are paying upwards of $3.50 per gallon of gas with it projected to hit $4.00 per gallon in the summer and here we are continuing to commute by car in record numbers and highway construction will only add more cars, more traffic and ultimately more traffic jams which decreases gas mileage and wastes still more gas making the greedy oil companies raise the price of gas even higher. There has been a movement to use public transportation in the Baltimore area but the transit system is lack luster at best and will continue to be so until at least 2035. What will it take to ear mark highway construction funds to pay for transit instead? $10 per gallon? It's not that far fetched.

Most of the highway construction funds are to be used around Baltimore City rather than it which further encourages suburban sprawl. There has also been a recent movement to move back into cities especially young single adults and empty nesters. They, along with college students are the most likely to use transit. The worst part of it is every highway construction project takes away the likelihood of transit lines being built. Don't believe me? Well here's a list of construction projects in and around Baltimore that will take away funds and ridership for transit lines.

$1 Billion+ I-95 Travel Lanes/I-695 interchange Green and Purple Lines

I-695 southwest side widening Orange and Yellow Lines

I-170 Red Line

Boston Street Widening Red Line

Orleans Street Widening Green Line

Northern Parkway/JFX Interchange Improvements Blue Line and Charles St. Trolley Line

I-795 Expansion into Carroll County Green Line Expansion into Carroll County. Although I-795 would go north to Hampstead and the Green Line would go to Westminster you can't fund them both. The Green Line hasn't been extended to I-795's northern Terminus.

White Marsh Boulevard Extension Green and Purple Lines

MLK Boulevard/JFX Interchange Blue and Green Lines

I-70/I-695 Interchange Improvements Red Line

Pratt Street Two Way Conversion Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Charles St. Trolley Line

BW Parkway/Russell Street Widening and Reconstruction Blue Yellow and Orange Lines

Dolfield Boulevard/I795 Interchange Green Line

Reisterstown Road/Owings Mills Boulevard Interchange Green Line