How Much Red Line Is Feasible?

The previous post was very dismissive of the Red Line favoring lines or portions of lines that were a lot easier and cheaper to build. Not only that, the lines are laid out properly and will get great ridership and decrease congestion in their respective areas. They also provide opportunity to expand those lines as redevelopment warrants it. One thing about Baltimore is that its north south corridors I've found to be more congested than the east west corridors.
Now, I'm very much in support of the Red Line but I want it done right. Option 4C does not fit my vision of the correct way to do it. The MTA wants to push the entire Line through the legislative process as quickly as possible to qualify for stimulus dollars to make it "shovel ready."
Transit, like any other project should be done very carefully and cost cutting measures are very detrimental to the final product. Now I pose the question which I will attempt to answer; How much Red Line is Feasible?
Now with every transit line, I believe we should start Downtown and go from there. Now I'm telling you right now that any Red Line that I think I deam "correct" will not pass by in its entirety but I've always said that the Red Line, just like all other transit lines should be built in stages.The Red Line Downtown is a joke, it goes along MLK Boulevard from the Road to Nowhere to Lombard St. with just a single stop at Saratoga St.
There are many missed opportunities here to aide in the redevelopment of the Westside of Downtown, the ever expanding UMB, and create a Lexington Market Hub. From the Road to Nowhere the Red Line will gradually descend in a southeast pattern until it meets Pratt St. at Camden Yards.Besides the Lexington Market Hub, there are other stops in my plan that aren't in 4C they include Seton Hill, the Western Edge of Charles Center, UMB/Westside, and Camden/Convention Center.
Once on Pratt St., the Red Line will go be surface level. Unlike Howard St. and Edmondson Avenue, Pratt St. is very wide and traffic will run more efficiently on a narrower street and what better way to showcase Baltimore's Mass Transit than on Pratt St. which is the crown and jewel of the Inner Harbor and the Baltimore Region as a whole.
It will be surface level with an Inner Harbor Stop at a redesigned Light St./Calvert St. intersection and a Pier Six Stop.
At President St. there will be an unbuilt transfer station where the Red Line will branch off into two. The branch is not in the first phase.

What is in the first phase is an Inner Harbor East Stop at Eastern Avenue and President St. I chose Eastern Avenue rather than Fleet St. because it will catch more riders from Little Italy, Perkins Homes, and Upper Fels Point which, if on Fleet St. may not travel the extra block. I also chose Eastern Avenue because surface transit on low density Boston St. is a joke. Canton won't even be in Phase I because Ed Hale's Canton Crossing's future is so uncertain.

Phase I will end at the Fels Point intersection of Eastern Avenue and Broadway one block above the Broadway Market.

Phase II or III will extend the line both east and west but it depends on one word MARC. If the redevlopment of the West Baltimore MARC Station and the creation of an East Baltimore MARC Station come first it will be Phase II if not, it will be Phase III.

Whatever Phase it will be will include the infamous Road to Nowhere from the Social Security Building to the West Baltimore MARC Station. Redeveloping the Road to Nowhere I'd like to see Peter Tocco's Baltimorphosis plan put into effect. Peter Tocco, like myself is a Baltimore Idea Man who resides in West Columbia. I have a link to his labor of love "Baltimorphosis" in my links field where you can see his ieda first hand. Gerry Neilly contributed a lot to Baltimorphosis as well.

The East Baltimore MARC Station located in Orangeville will open the door to massive TOD opportunities and a Red Line Station there is very much warranted. The Orangeville branch will use the President St. transer and that line will continue along Pratt St. through Albemarle Square and will have a stop serving the rapidly gentrifying Washington Hill and Butchers Hill. Then it will slope northeasterly above Patterson Park whose gentrification won't go above Fayette St. into McElderry Park. Hopefully a station here will jump start McElderry Park's gentrification. Lirbrary Square will also have a Red Line Station before ending at the East Baltimore MARC Station at Orangeville. This concludes this Phase whether it's Phase II or III I don't know.

The other Phase II or III depending on the development climate will be extending the Eastern Avenue Branch to Bayview. Highlandtown has some massive redevelopment coming down the pipeline starting with the abandoned factory on the Eastern End.

There will be a new loft district which will connect the neighborhood with Greektown. Obviously Highlandtown and Greektown will share a Station on the Red Line.

Canton will get its saving grace regardless of Canton Crossing with a stop at Eastern Avenue and Clinton St. It will have a shuttle bug with stops at Canton Crossing, Brewers Hill, and the Boston St. Safeway. This branch will end at Bayview.

Phase IV will be Edmondson Avenue. This is flawed because 4C has the Line going surface level along Edmondson Avenue disrupting the already busy street. I say wait until funding becomes available for tunnels under Edmondson Avenue.

Stations will include Edmondson Village (Allendale St.), Rognel Heights (Edmondson Shopping Village), and the new Uplands (Uplands Parkway) and ending at Hunting Ridge (Cooks Lane) concluding Phase IV.

Phase V will be the Orangeville branch making a sharp turn south crossing Bayview for another Red Line transfer Station. Then it will go down Dundalk Avenue to a redevloped O'Donnell Heights/Fort Holabird then meeting its ultimate final eastern terminus at the Industrial Dundalk Sparrows Point Waterfront. Redevelopment may not be far behind. That's Phase V.

Phase VI will be Cooks Lane to the Medicare/Medicaid Offices. Since 4C only allows for one tunnel under Cooks Lane it has to be shelved until funding becomes available for double tracking. Just one set of tracks will be very disruptive to the entire Red Line, it will fall like a row of Dominos. So, under Cooks Lane it will have a stop at the Ingelside Avenue/Forest Park Avenue and I-70 Park & Ride/Security Boulevard Intersection. Now it will travel along Security Boulevard where it will have stops at the Social Security Complex, Security Sqaure Mall, and Medicare/Medicaid Complex. That concludes Phase VI and the Red Line.

Now I can't provide a time line for the completion of all these phases because they depend on the funding of other projects and funding for itself. However, I think I've proposed a great and quality alternative to Option 4C where each Phase was calculated very carefully and added on when it was warranted. Right now Downtown and into Fels Point are the only parts of the Red Line that are needed and are currently feasible. Now that's how much Red Line is feasible.

More Transit Lines Can Exist, Without Much Digging

If you can't gather the money to build quality transit, don't build it all. Only quality efficient transit will gather riders anywhere and everywhere. With that I say we throw the Red Line on the back burner and take a long hard look at Baltimore's transit system and where streets are currently congested. With only one tunnel going under Cooks Lane (a major hurdle for the Red Line) and the fate of Canton Crossing up in the air, there are too many "what ifs" lets focus on places where what ifs and one direction tunnels aren't the order of the day. One might be surprised at what you could build upon when you look at what's already there.

Map From Google Earth

This is the preferred Red Line which, due to the pressure of being "shovel ready" is an all or nothing deal. Instead of building it in stages and waiting out the economy when the City, State, and Feds are a little less strapped for cash everybody wants to move forward on this fundamentally flawed Red Line which uses none of the old abandoned tracks that the City is flanked with. So, the entire line will be built from scratch. Now, lets take a little trip.
Here we are on W. Oliver St. where mixed use development featuring a Barnes & Noble is currently under construction. This is located on the flawed Light Rail Line. It is here that I find evidence that flawed transit projects impact ridership.
The original Light Rail's route was fine, the only problem was that during its time Downtown it's rammed down Howard St. Here, one can see the overhead lines on Howard St. and how a Light Rail train can add to the traffic mess. However, Howard St. has a saving grace of having CSX tunnels running under it and said tunnels have to be vacated by the CSX after the 2001 fire. This part of the Light Rail can just move on in.Expansions to the original Light Rail included a Penn Station stop that didn't help neighboring communities with their traffic congestion and the other to BWI where a one track at a time method was used just like that that is being proposed for Cooks Lane.
Now we're in Charles Center at the currently shuttered Mechanic Opera House. David S. Brown Enterprises promises to redevelop the site with a new Mechanic, retail, and high rise residential. What does this have to do with transit? Everything. One thing I didn't mention was that the Charles Center Subway stop is located right under the Mechanic. An even more important detail I forgot to mention was that this stop was built for two. This particular stop was and is perhaps the best Mass Transit Stop in all of Baltimore because it was built on the premise of expansion. Now, if we start referring to the existing lines in "colors" instead of "Metro" or "Light Rail" they will stir up excitement and demand expansion. The Yellow Line already exists believe or not. It travels with the Blue Line except for the Penn Station and BWI branches but here in lies the foundation for a transit line all its own. The Charles Center Stop knows this and this stop built for two will house a Yellow Line Stop.

The liberated Yellow Line will branch off from the Blue Line at Howard and Conway. With the Convention Center, Harborplace, and the numerous underground parking garages in this area it won't be very hard or expensive to dedicate bits and pieces of this for an underground tunnel that will lead us to the Charles Center tunnel for two after an Inner Harbor stop at Pratt St.Once the Yellow Line has used its tunnel for two with a Green Line transfer it will go northeast along Clavert St. where there is lot of digging and building for the ever expanding Mercy Hospital. This, along with City Hall and the Court House will serve as grounds for another Yellow Line Stop. Lets not forget the City's intention to demolish the JFX, there has to be a transit back up for the aftermath of it.
Past Mercy Hospital and into Mount Vernon, one will be hard pressed to find tunnels for the Yellow Line to latch onto. The Yellow Line will have a Mount Vernon Stop right here at Orleans St. where the blending of Franklin and Mulberry Streets, The Orleans St. Viaduct, and Preston Gardens warrant the additional stop but can they come up with the cash?I don't see it being a huge problem considering Penn Station's just a few blocks away, less than a mile even. Penn Station for now will be the north end of the Yellow Line. It will help the continued redevelopment of Station North, Greenmount West, and Barclay. When the time comes the Yellow Line will expand up Greenmount Avenue/York Road and and its real end will be Towson Town Centre.Map from Google Earth

The "Current Yellow Line" ends at BWI but about a mile away is the BWI Amtrak MARC Station. Although it's a simple shuttle bus ride away between the two stops it will be very easy to extend the line to meet the MARC/Amtrak Station. In fact it can be at ground level with its own right of way, i.e. not very expensive. The Yellow Line's southern end will be in Columbia via Arundel Mills but that's a ways away.Now we've made our way to Johns Hopkins Hospital. Development and redevelopment in this region of the City is recession proof. The Biotech Park and the upwards of 1600 new and rehabbed homes are right on schedule. It may not be as dense as the blighted Middle East neighborhood the Biotech is located in but considering the 30% vacancy rate of Middle East there will be more people living and working here.
Hopkins serves as the current eastern end of the Green Line. It was never supposed to play this roll but the fact that the Green Line is Heavy Rail instead of Light Rail has made expansion almost impossible. Although the partial expansion of the Green Line from Hopkins to Morgan State is a priority project I don't see it happening soon. I'd love to see it go all the way to White Marsh via Harford Road going through Lauraville Waltherson and Hamilton and eventually to Martin State Airport.The Green Line Expansion to Morgan is much of a "sure thing" than anything on the Red Line. Morgan State is expanding leaps and bounds with no end in site. Enrollment is through the roof drawing not just from Baltimore but from all over the region. The Red Line, especially east of Downtown is dependent on future development, a lot of which is now up in the air. West of Downtown its neighborhoods are half vacant. It would be wiser to shift focus on the Green Line where neighborhoods are growing, not shrinking. Also the proposed Red Line rams it down Edmondson Avenue in the same fashion the Blue Line is rammed down Howard St. This won't solve traffic problems, it will add to them. Another fringe benefit of the Green Line Morgan Expansion would be the redevelopment of Northwood Plaza. Northwood Plaza today is a suburban style shopping center in the middle of an urban environment. The Neighborhood Design Center has presented us with an ambitious plan to redevelop the center by making it denser and incorporating other uses for it. Now here we are back in Mount Vernon. This time for the Charles St. Trolley. This priority project of the City and Civic Groups alike is right on track and will provide a local link from Johns Hopkins University to the Inner Harbor. The Yellow Line and the Charles St. Trolley can co exist very nicely. The only issue I have with the Charles St. Trolley and my fellow "Envision Baltimore" Colleagues agree that it trys to have a stop everywhere. Its route looks more like a tourist tram than a Commuter Rail. I say keep it simple, northbound goes on Charles St., Southbound on St. Paul St. If you're a tourist, Ride the Ducks.
Here we are in Charles Village where the Trolley line will end. Now both Charles St. and St. Paul St. have much less traffic than they do Downtown. That's easy to explain, Charles Village is a College Community that is very walkable. There's plenty of foot traffic on the sidewalks here. The entire trolley line will be at ground level with traffic. Both streets are plenty wide to support it and a good redesign of St. Paul St. along Preston Gardens will relieve traffic congestion along the Trolley Line. Now we're in Locust Point where the Baltimore Regional Rail Plan doesn't have lines or stops running through it. Luckily there are train tracks running all over the South Baltimore Peninsula. In the Baltimore Regional Rail Plan there are two lines the Orange Line and the Purple Line which uses existing MARC tracks and making local stops on them. This plan wasn't met with open arms, however I love this concept. Before any new lines are built, these two lines should be implemented, Baltimore will see much better transit service without laying a single track. Local stops on the Orange and Purple lines will have "pulloffs" where riders on those line can board and deboard trains without interrupting service to MARC and Amtrak trains that won't be making as many stops. Map From Google Earth

Now, the Orange Line will travel mostly on the MARC Camden Line from the Dorsey Station almost to its Camden Yards end. Just before Mt&T Bank Stadium it will switch to CSX tracks where it will serve Sharp Leadenhall, South Baltimore, Riverside, and Locust Point. As displayed above it will make a loop around residential Locust Point and end. It won't directly serve Federal Hill but there will be a "Shuttle Bug" to give residents rides to stops on the Orange Line. The Shuttle Bug can stop at the Southside Marketplace, The Cross St. Market, and the Ritz Carlton Residences.

Now the Purple Line will use the MARC Penn Line as its tracks. It will start at the BWI MARC and end at Martin State Airport. New local stops will include Arbutus/UMBC, St. Agnes Hospital, Irvington, Rosemont, Sandtown, Biotech MARC, Orangeville (East Baltimore MARC,) Bayview, Rosedale, and Rossville beofre its end at Martin State Airport. Like the Purple Line, it will use "pulloffs" so as not to interupt serivce to MARC and Amtrak lines. Unlike the Purple Line it won't end with its own route on its own line. It will however, branch off at St. Agnes Hospital for the SoWeBO Street Car Line. This will run on abandoned track lines in Carroll Park and will jump start revitalization efforts in neighborhoods along Wilkens Avenue. It will end at the B&O Railroad Museum.

Well that's it our trip is over, as you can see with minimal building of new and expanded lines (Both the Green and Yellow Line will have to eventually continue) we can relieve traffic congestion in Baltimore. The Red Line at this point is too rushed and must be reevaluated to make it feasable and my next post will do just that. Stay tuned!

The Alameda:Baltimore's Next Eutaw Place?

When you think of the Alameda and Eutaw Place you don't think of their similarities right away, first you think of their differences. Eutaw Place runs through West Baltimore's elegant Bolton Hill neighborhood while the Alameda runs through East and northeast Baltimore. The homes on Eutaw Place are large and stately while the homes on the Alameda are smaller and haven't been cared for as well. But could these two seemingly different streets which only share one thing in common (their median) become each others' twins?
You can't talk about the Alameda's conception without discussing two key factors; Homestead Village and Olmstead Firm's Comprehensive Park Plan of Baltimore City. Homestead Village as it would be called came to be in the 1850s laid out on the Gorsuch Estate. It was Baltimore's (pre annexation) first row house suburb. it featured the urban grid and was/is as dense as most Baltimore City row house neighborhoods. Homestead Village was targeted towards the middle class and was surrounded by the estates of wealthy Land Owners and featured a diverse array of architecture.
Next, there's the Olmstead Firm's Comprehensive Park Plan of Baltimore City. This included the creation of several "park like" roads with plush medians to create a link between parks. The Alameda is one of those roads, it connects Clifton Park to 33rd St. It was eventually expanded to what is now Chinquapin Park thereby serving its purpose. It currently sits on the National Register for Historic Places.
Historic Homestead Village is the same "Homestead known in the neighborhood cluster of Coldstream Homestead Montebello. Given Homestead Village's importance it should be classified as a Local if not National Resgister for Historic Places. Another Historic landmark that goes overlooked is Clifton Park itself; the Estate of Johns Hopkins. Yes the same Johns Hopkins of Hospital and University fame.
What needs to be done to to turn the Alameda into median worthy of Eutaw Place is to let it be known that it has so much Historical Significance. It's obvious that much of the stretch of the Alameda in question, Historic Homestead Village, and Clifton Park are now Inner City Neighborhoods that have suffered decades of neglect. The outer edges of Coldstream Homestead Montebello have fared much better than the center of the neighborhood.
When the public housing high rises came down in the 1990s into the 21st century, the successful town homes that went in their place helped unearth the long forgotten and neglected history that the high rises covered up. Case in point; Historic Jonestown, when Flaghouse Courts came down and Albemarle Square came up, a renewed interest both inside and outside Historic Jonestown was brought about and is now a livable walkable community. The parts of Jonestown that survived both Fkaghouse Courts and Albemarle Square are now in great demand for a rehab.
I'm going to make the argument that neighborhoods like Coldstream Homestead Montebello are the high rises of the 21st century. I escpecially see parallels in Coldstream Homestead Montebello in Flaghouse Courts/Albemarle Sqaure. That means that large portions of the neighborhood will have to be demolished in order to save it. Historic Homestead Village and the Alameda's housing stock will be spared. Historic Homestead's housing stock is in bad shape though but I can see a revival. if much of the homes around it are gone in favor of new construction the homes left instantly become more valuable. It's all about supply and demand. When the supply goes down, the demand goes up.
The lower Coldstream and Upper Montebello will be spared as their housing is in much better shape than its surroundings. The southwestern edge does contain blighted industrial uses that would make for better neighborhood retail and will be part of the redevelopment.After the demolition of the blighted parts of the neighborhood and new construction is underway, the City can acquire blighted and vacant properties along the Alameda and in Historic Homestead Village and offer them for sale at the price of $1. Hey, it worked in Otterbein, why shouldn't it work here? For the exterior facades of the properties there will be strict guidelines the new Home Owners must adhere to insure the integrity of the homes.The Estate of Johns Hopkins (Clifton Park) is yet another historic landmark. Considering the struggles of the neighborhoods surrounding neighborhoods, Clifton Park has done very well. The only way its integrity has been compromised is Lake Clifton High.Now what's wrong with a High School in the middle of a park? It actually sounds like a tranquil and serene setting. It does however, it was built over a Lake hence the name Lake Clifton High.There really is a Lake under that School pictured. The School was built at a time when Historic Preservation wasn't a priority in the City. The School is currently a surplus of seats and should be demolished in favor of a full restoration of Lake Clifton.Now with all the new construction going on in Coldstream Homestead Montebello how can it be best be marketed? After all, the promise of Historic Preservation and a new old lake across Harford Road probably isn't enough to fill the new homes which will be a mix of Condos and Town homes with a varying income mix. Well here's one, another Lake!
I bet you forgot that north of Coldstream Homestead Montebello lies Lake Montebello. With the rebirth of Lake Clifton Coldstream Homestead Montebello will have the bragging rights of having two Lakes in its back yard, no Baltimore Neighborhood can say that. Also with the proposed Green Line extension from Hopkins to Morgan (and eventually to White Marsh and Martin State Airport) Coldstream Homestead Montebello will be a logical stop. Therefore it will be TOD. A continuation of the Harford Road Streetscape enhancements that Lauraville and Hamilton have enjoyed will complement the Alameda very well.Well notice that this post talks very little about the Alameda and its comparison to Eutaw Place. Fact of the matter is, The Alameda already has what it needs in place to be East Baltimore's Eutaw Place. To create the elegance and stability needed the neighborhood surrounding the Alameda is what really needs to be addressed. To really put this area on the map would to be to make it a tourist attraction. Bus tours that show off Historic Homestead Village and the remainders of the Patterson Estate (Coldstream) and the Garrett Estate (Montebello) and the Hopkins Estate (Clifton Park) with way finding signs like those in the harbor. This currently blighted part of the City will be sure to give even Eutaw Place a run for its money.