Very few people know or talk about the 2002 Baltimore Regional Rail Plan let alone refer to it as a inspiration for future lines. I roughly use it as a blue print for building the Red Line, Yellow Line, and implementing the Orange and Purple Lines using existing MARC tracks. However, I have also endorsed the Charles St. Trolley Line (Brown Line), the Silver Line that I have thought up, and the consolidation of MARC Stations in the Halethorpe Area. Today, I'm writing about spurs both existing and proposed and connecting those stops into a line of their own; the Gold Line.
The 2002 Baltimore Regional Rail Plan renames the existing Light Rail as the Blue Line, I will refer to it as that from here on out. The Blue Line began running from Cromwell Station to Timonium running through the City. It eventually expanded northbound to Hunt Valley. The Cromwell Station to Hunt Valley is what I consider to be the "core" of the Blue Line. Anything else, I refer to as "spurs."
The spurs in question are the spur that leads to Penn Station and the spur that instead of going to Cromwell Station as its southern Terminus, it goes through Linthicum Heights, the BWI Business District while ending at the Airport Terminal. This spur I refer to as the Yellow Line since it is from this spur along with sharing tracks with the Blue Line from the spur split to Camden Yards, the Yellow Line has been birthed in my opinion. The completed Yellow Line will run from Towson to Columbia.
The final stop of this spur (Airport Terminal) will not be part of the finished Yellow Line. The finished Yellow Line will go from the BWI Business District westward to the BWI MARC/Amtrak Station through Arundel Mills on its way to Columbia. But worry not, I have plans for this lone spur.
Whoops, I almost forgot that there's another spur that's being proposed to be added to the Blue Line. It would be in Port Covington which is ground zero for some of the largest scale redevelopment in the City. So, lets review the three spurs we have now, Penn Station, Port Covington, and the Airport Terminal. There must be a more direct way to connect these places while providing Rail Transit service to areas that aren't covered by the Regional Rail Plan. This is where my proposed Gold Line comes to fruition.
With that being said, lets take a ride on the Gold Line! We'll start at its northern terminus; Penn Station. It is there that it will connect to the Blue Line going through Mount Royal, State Center, Downtown, and the Stadiums. At the Westport stop, the Gold Line will part ways with the Blue Line crossing a bridge into Port Covington. The new proposed stop(s) will be at their proposed location(s) and at that point, the Gold Line will run parallel to the Hanover St. Bridge. South of the bridge, the Gold Line will turn east for a stop at the District Court House in Brooklyn. From here on out, the line will be tunneled.
The Gold Line will continue south through Farring Bay Brook Park and will have a stop in Brooklyn Park at Church St. and Richie Highway. At this point the Line will continue down Richie Highway across I-695 for a stop at the MVA which is a major employer for the region. While traveling down Richie Highway it will stop at B&A Boulevard at Glen Burnie Town Centre. When plan to extend the Blue Line to Annapolis occurs this will be transfer point between the two lines. Just up B&A Boulevard will be a transfer point to the existing Blue Line at Cromwell Station.
Past Cromwell Station, the Line will make a sharp left to travel under Dorsey Road. I'm unsure of what path it will take whether or not it will travel along Telegraph Road or Aviation Boulevard to reach the Airport. Obviously it will be the path of least resistance but I'm unsure as to what or where that that is. What I do know is that the Gold Line's southern terminus will be at the Airport Terminal stop where there's already an existing stop.
By differentiating between the existing Light Rail Line and its spurs, we can look to the future and expand those lines and have them become their own lines and cover areas currently without Rail Transit.
