Green Line Above Ground:Fail

I read a long time ago that the value of your home sky rockets if there is tunneled rail transit in the general vicinity. On the flip side I read that overhead rail transit diminishes the value of your home. For somebody who has always been in favor of tunneled transit this came as no shock to me. It also led me to further examine the portion of Baltimore's Green Line that's above ground and give it a fail grade.
The Green Line runs tunneled from Johns Hopkins Hospital to Mondawmin Mall. These tunneled stops vary in terms of ridership. A lot of this has to do with the number of vacants in the Neighborhoods they serve. For instance, Hopkins would attract more riders than say Upton simply because Upton's vacancy rate is close to 40% while Hopkins is Baltimore's largest employer.
But I digress, my goal is to discuss the above ground portion that runs from just north of Mondawmin Mall to Owings Mills. At first the above ground portion runs along Wabash Avenue, a wide thoroughfare that runs from Hilton St. to Northern Parkeway. There's a dead end stub that stems from Liberty Heights Avenue suggesting the possibility for a connection.
Wabash Avenue serves as a divider from the Middle to Upper Class Forest Park Neighborhood with low (for Baltimore) crime and well kept Dulplexes, Single Family Homes, and Row Homes and the destitute crime ridden slums of Park Heights.
The barrier between the two Neighborhoods is more than just a too wide Wabash Avenue, there are also numerous blighted industrial businesses that are out of place. Also the above ground Green Line serves as yet another barrier. For more about Wabash Avenue please read an old post of mine called "The Two Different Worlds of Wabash Avenue."
When Green Line hits the County it bypasses possible higher rider "catch" areas on Liberty Road and Reisterstown Road. Instead the line runs through the residential Sudbrook Park with a Milford Mill Road Stop and an Old Court Road Stop. More about Sudbrook Later.
When the Green Line goes outside the Beltway, it accompanies I-795 (Northwest Expressway) for a couple of miles. It does this until the Line ends at what is supposed to be Owings Mills Town Center.
Currently Owings Mills Town Center consists of nothing more than an all but shuttered Mall and Parking Garages which mark the first stage of "Metro Centre at Owings Mills" which when complete (there have already been pitfalls) promises to be a TOD haven with Retail, Residential, Office, Community College, and Library for the Owings Mills Area.
No plans to redevelop the Mall have to come fruition.
Now back to Sudbrook, remember how a plethora of unbuilt or incomplete Freeways in Baltimore line the pages of the City County's History Books? Of course you do, you're from Baltimore and part of being from Baltimore requires you to yearn for details about you City's History.
With that being said, it should come as no surprise that I-795 was supposed to continue inside the Beltway and was to end at the other side of the Northern Parkway and Wabash Avenue intersection. Now it makes sense that the Green Line would pair with I-795 and Wabash; they were supposed to be the same road!
Now would connecting the two roads give the above ground Green Line a pass grade? No, it wouldn't, in fact it would only add to the problem. My solution? A combination of relocating and tunneling the Green Line. The non relocated portion to be tunneled would run along Wabash Avenue between Mondawmin Mall and Northern Parkway. The road would be narrowed complete with streetscape enhancements and redevelopment of the blighted industrial area which will hopefully have a positive effect on Park Heights.
Now above Northern Parkway is where my "solution" gets tricky. The newly tunneled Green Line will make a sharp turn east on Northern Parkway and yet another sharp turn northwest onto Reisterstown Road. Here, the rider "catch" Neighborhoods of Glen, Fallstaff, and Reisterstown Road Plaza will bring a higher number of City Riders.
Leaving the City the relocated Milford Mill Stop will be renamed "Pikesville" which will only help with redevelopment efforts in Pikesville along Reisterstown Road. The Condo High Rises along Slade Avenue will benefit from this new stop literally at their front door.
Next, the line will continue below Reisterstown Road for a Stop at Festival at Woodholme at Mount Wilson Lane. This has the potential to be yet another untapped high rider "catch" area with Ner Israel Rabbinical College, The Villages at Woodholme, Avalon, and The Festival at Woodholme Shopping Center. The next stop will be at Reisterstown Road and Greenspring Valley Road serving the McDounough Township, numerous Car Dealerships, Shopping Centers, and the Solo Cup Factory. The Apartment Complexes that flank the area as well as the Car Dealerships and Shopping Centers have all seen better days. The Solo Cup Factory is also slated for closure. This area has the overwhelming potential to be a TOD haven.
Finally as the Line turns down Painters Mill Road, it will end where it currently does at the uninspired Owings Mills Town Centre. In order for the Green Line above to receive a pass grade, one will literally have to move the earth in order to tunnel it and relocate it to a higher rider "catch" area north of Sudbrook Park.

BRAC: Fail

Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) has brought and will bring thousands of jobs and tens of thousands of residents over the next several years. This has been hailed as a victory for the Greater Metropolitan Area and for Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground. But what about Baltimore City? Could the City fill the Population Gap caused by a suburban housing shortage? If this were to happen would this be in the best interest of the City? If BRAC residents were to reside in the City, would there sufficient transit to and from Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground? None of these questions have the answers I'm looking for and through the eyes of somebody who wants to see Baltimore City make a huge come back not only in additional population but additional Jobs; I see BRAC as a "Fail." Keep reading for my explanation.

As stated before, BRAC has been and will be a major victory for Central Maryland. We have one man to thank for this blessing; Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown. O'Malley's second in command has been hailed as the Nation's best and most productive and influential Lieutenant Governors, something that will look good in 2014 if he makes a run for the Governor's Mansion or Congress. The fact that he's an Iraq War Veteran doesn't hurt his future prospects either. When the Military decided to close and consolidate its bases, they could have chosen any base in the Country, but they chose Maryland, thanks to Anthony Brown and his leadership.

With BRAC coming to Maryland, both Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County and Aberdeen Proving Ground will see a huge spike in Personnel reporting for active duty. With the housing market in these areas reaching build out levels it will be hard to live close to work be it Fort Meade or Aberdeen Proving Ground. Active Military Personnel and their Families aren't the only additional jobs that have come to Maryland that are BRAC related. Defense Contracting Firms have been springing up at the drop of the hat near both bases. The Defense Contractors are just as relevant in the population growth as the Active Duty Military Personnel reporting to Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Now since the suburbs around Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground are already experiencing massive growth and the associated "growing pains" which include congested roads and crowding in the Public Schools. If only there were a part of the Metropolitan Area that could easily absorb this growth and then some.....Oh wait we do! Between 1957-2011 Baltimore City's Population went from 987,000 to 641,000. Now BRAC won't even come close to 336,000 additional residents even if every single person associated with it took up residence in the City. If that were to happen it could mean a gain of 100,000 residents bringing the population up to 741,000 which was roughly the Population in 1990 (736,000) One encouraging fact about the City's Population is that most of the drop happened in the 1990s going from 736,000 in 1990 to 651,000 in 2000 and the 641,000 number has been the same since 2005 which means Baltimore's Population has stabilized.

Now back to BRAC, it only makes sense that the additional population move to the City right? Wrong! Although the City has launched massive efforts for BRAC transplants including tours of Neighborhoods that have an abundance of affordable housing waiting to be occupied. BRAC Transplants however, have shied away from City living because of its crime and Schools. What they don't realize is that their occupation of these Neighborhoods in the City will bring down crime and may bring up test cores in the Schools. With increased Military Personnel living in Neighborhoods that are "up & coming" which means they're being repopulated and trying to shake off the stigma of crimes past, the crime will go down even further because it would be like having Security or Police living in the Neighborhood which will deter would be criminals.

Now if all these people did decide to move to the City would that be in the City's best interest?
Baltimore has struggled with its location near DC and Philadelphia by having workers in both those City's and their suburbs moving to Baltimore. This has questioned Baltimore's sustainability as a City in and of itself. It seems that with residents working outside the City that Baltimore has become either a suburb of itself or a suburb of DC. In order to combat this, we will have to have as many people both living and working in Baltimore.

So what mistakes were made when it comes to BRAC? Obviously we can't force its transplants to live in the City, or could we have? Who said that the additional Military Personnel and the inevitable defense contracting Firms that come with have to be located at or near Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground? In the City on vacant land could a third Military Base have been created specifically for BRAC Transplants and have Defense Contractors locate there? Fort Holabird comes to mind, Orangeville comes to mind, the Wilkens Avenue area comes to mind, as does the Carroll Camden Indusrtial Park. These are all former Industrial areas of the City that have been compromised by the fall of the American Rust Belt City. These areas would have benefited so well by the energy created by BRAC and with all those jobs then being in the City, employees would have been much more likely to live there too. So that right there was the fatal mistake or oversight made by Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown and his staff.

Since the wheels have long since been set in motion for BRAC and its Defense Contract Firms to be located outside the City and the Personnel have decided to live in already crowded and cramped suburbs, I can't put forth anything to give this a "Pass" grade, BRAC will have to remain a Fail.

New Posts Coming Soon

After a lackluster April filled with a virus ridden computer and writer's block; I'm "back in the studio" as they say, bouncing some new ideas for posts. Look for them soon!

Light Rail Spurs:Fail

In the 1980s and into the early 1990s, Baltimore began work on a Rail Transit System. First came the Heavy Rail Subway (Green Line) which connected the burgeoning community of Owings Mills to Downtown and eventually to Hopkins. I believe even in its earliest days the Green Line was supposed to extend Northeast to White Marsh. Then came the Central Light Rail Line, it runs from Cromwell Station in Glen Burnie to Hunt Valley. Yes with these two lines and more on the way, Baltimore was well on its way to a World Class Transit System.

The money train the MTA was riding came to a screeching halt after the Light Rail was built. It didn't have proper funding to be built correctly for example; one way tracking, surface level on Howard St, no transfer points at Lexington Market, State Center/Cultural Center and Upton (MARC Penn Line.)

The MTA to its credit, corrected the single tracking by adding a second track in the late 1990s so trains in opposite directions can pass without interruption. Also in the late '90s when funding was minimal, the need for Rail Transit at both BWI Marshall Airport and Penn Station came front and center stage. Now, I'm only guessing here but I would have to believe that the 2002 Baltimore Regional Rail Plan was being drafted when the need for Rail Transit at these two locations.

This would have been the time to start building a new line that addresses not only the Airport and Penn Station but one that is more far reaching and may have a stop or two already Master Planned for it.
This didn't happen, instead, the existing Light Rail Line gained two "spurs" one that goes east at its Mount Royal Stop to Penn Station, and the other southwest from the Lansdowne/Baltimore Highlands area to you guessed it BWI. Now the southwest spur does give service to the Linthicum Area of Anne Arundel County but the Penn Station Spur does not offer any additional stops or serve any additional areas of the City or County. That's why I must "Fail" the Light Rail Spurs.

Now remember at the beginning of the post I said that Baltimore was well on its way to having a World Class Transit System in the 1980s and '90s? That was based on the assumption that more Transit Lines were on their way. The time to start building a new Line was and is when the need for Stops at Penn Station and BWI became relevant. This should have been the birth of the
Yellow Line.

Now, there are only a few things that should have been done differently different from the spurs to actually make the Yellow Line a reality. From Lansdowne/Baltimore Highlands to Camden Yards, The existing Light Rail and the Yellow Line will share tracks.Now instead of going up Howard St. to reach Penn Station, the Yellow Line should have broken away at Camden Yards going Northeast making for an Inner Harbor Stop, a Charles Center Stop where the current Green Line has a Station that has a second line already Master Planned into it, a City Hall Stop, a Mount Vernon Stop, and finally ending (for now) at Penn Station.

With the announcement of a new Line with a different name, it tricks the mind into believing more work is being done than there actually is. This new Yellow Line Path that goes northeast from Camden Yards up Calvert St to Penn Station is really only a couple of miles but it will serve thousands, provide traffic relief, and can used as a back up when the JFX is torn down.

Another benefit of adding a new Line be it big or small is the demand for expansion. If instead of building the Penn Station Spur, The Yellow came into existence instead, people would demand that the Line be extended in both directions which in the final 2002 Regional Rail Plan, that's exactly what the Yellow is intended to do.
Now, funding for these expansions is another story but Master Planning Stations into new infrastructure, and then tunneling the connections will certainly make the tasks of expanding a line much less daunting. I will give you examples.

BWI MARC Station. I don't why the southwest spur or the Yellow Line whatever you want to call it wasn't expanded here. It's literally just an extra mile of tracks but the connection potential would have been great.
The Dorsey MARC, this new station that opened in the late 1990s when Route 100 was built could have easily had a second station master planned into it for future use. The spurs were planned and built at the same time as this Station only a couple of miles away. The complete idiocy and lack of foresight by the MTA is laughable, but at the same time it's not funny. Also Arundel Mills, take a look at that mess of suburban sprawl that also being planned and constructed at the same time as the Light Rail Spurs. Was a Station Master Planned into it? Nope then again it's Anne Arundel County, where they want to shut down a Light Rail Station on West Nursery Road just because somebody got mugged there. It's no secret that they're anti Rail Transit. At the other end on York Road between Stevenson Lane in the County and Northern Parkway in the City, there was a huge project that involved a complete makeover of the streetscape and the road itself. Could a Station have been built there too? Or even tunneled tracks for future use?

Well now that I've told you what should have been done to make the reality of the Yellow Line more feasible, lets look at what can be done in the future development wise to plan for Stations to offset the cost of construction when the time comes.

Since the southern terminus of the Yellow Line is the Columbia Mall lets start from the Dorsey MARC Station to Columbia. Along Route 1 there are several new high density developments on their way and a Station at Route and Montevideo Road/Port Capital Drive will make for a great Station location. There are plans to put in an interchange at Route 1 and 175 literally one block south of this proposed location. Going west along Route 175 at Snowden River Parkway there is a Park & Ride Lot that can be expanded into a Station. At Tamar Drive and Route 175, that area is due for massive redevelopment, also the building of Blandair Park and the associated interchange will make way for new tracking underground. An additional stop at Route 175 and Thunderhill Road can be brought into the Blandair Interchange equation. Thunderhill Road south of Route 175 is also due for massive redevelopment. Finally we end at the Columbia Mall in the middle of Town Center which is to undergo massive redevelopment that a Station can be Master Planned into. Not only that DC's Green Line should ultimately end here making a true connection to the DC and Baltimore Rail Transit Networks.

North of Penn Station there are also opportunities to Master Plan Stations and tracks in before the Yellow Line is officially constructed. In Station North there will be a lot of redevelopment in the Greenmount West Neighborhood. A great Station location would be Greenmount and North Avenue. Continuing up Greenmount we come to 25th St. at the Barclay and East Baltimore Midway Neighborhood. In order for these Neighborhoods to thrive again, massive large scale redevelopment will have to take place where a Station and some tracking can be built in. There should have been a Station added to the Waverly area when Memorial Stadium was torn down and the YMCA and Giant were built in its place. But hey, better late than never. Pen Lucy is due for some redevelopment especially houses right York and Old York Roads. Station and tracks with redevelopment? I think so! Another missed opportunity was Belvedere Square, when it was revamped in 2000 a Station could have been planned. Now we come to a big potential Station crossing into the County Seat known as Towson. This stop would serve GBMC, Towson University, Sheppard Pratt, and St. Joseph's Hospital. That's a large work force that currently causes grid lock in Towson, having that station in place will certainly unclog the roadways. Last but not least we come to the northern terminus; Towson Town Centre. There have been talks on how to revamp what is known as "Downtown Towson" and with these talks there should be a discussion on Rail Transit and how it can shape Towson's future for the better.

Well the spurs are a fail but in my mind they "spurred" the construction of the Yellow Line and although I may be the only person keeping it alive through discussing it, it's a pass.

Proposed JFX Teardown: Fail

Now don't get me wrong, I am very much in favor of the proposed tear down of the JFX between Fayette and Preston Sts. In fact I'd like to see it done much sooner than 2020, which is the current time table. The plan in which they're using to execute it however is not something I can support. When demolishing and redeveloping a large piece of infrastructure, a lot of things need to considered and taken into account and in this instance, I don't think it was done.
If done right, the JFX tear down will reconnect East Baltimore to the Central Business District and the Inner Harbor, and encourage the redevelopment of Old Town Mall while highlighting the many attractions of Historic Jonestown. If done wrong, traffic on President St. will get even more congested (if that's possible.) In this post I will weigh the pros and cons of the current plan and offer suggestions to turn the cons into pros. The cons far out weigh the pros which this endeavor a FAIL.

The surface parking lots known as "Penn Fallsway" have been sitting in the middle of what's supposed to be Downtown awaiting development for what seems like eons. With the JFX in place as an interstate, it wouldn't very feasible or desirable to add large Sky Scrapers demanding high rent and/or purchase prices when Downtown is blocked by a large interstate. I am very much in favor of developing this area and since there are no residences to tear down any residential building here will be nothing but growth for the City's Population. So this is one of the many reasons tearing down the JFX will be beneficial.

Now, if you take a look at renderings of the development that will take place after the tear down, you can't help but notice the selected right of ways for noth and south bound traffic and the massive open space area in between the two. Northbound traffic will be diverted onto the Fallsway, which was the original JFX and is currently used a no outlet parallel street to the current JFX. This I like. Southbound traffic however will be diverted onto Guilford Avenue which will be re configured to meet the needs of the additional traffic.This, I'm not too crazy about. The two directions of traffic are way too divided which will result in twice as many new traffic lights than if north and southbound traffic were routed closer to each other. Also, would the massive open space between the two be used? I don't think so. Don't believe me? Just look a few blocks to the west at Preston Gardens at you will see my point.

What needs to be done is to have the Fallsway widened to support both directions which will literally cut the number of traffic lights in half. With fewer traffic lights, the number of obstacles drivers and pedestrians alike will have to endure. With the two directions of traffic now located side by side, it's time I addressed the massive open space area where the current JFX is. It's stupid get rid of it. For nearly a century, Baltimore has covered and concealed one of its greatest natural gifts; the Jones Falls.
The Jones Falls is the namesake water way the JFX covers and with its demolition, the opportunity has opened up to make the Jones Falls a treasure yet again. It's ironic because everything in Baltimore has to be "on the water" so reopening the JFX as a attractive water way "playground" and an extension of the Inner Harbor only seems natural. My Colleague Peter Tocco is a native of Indianapolis and has documented how redevelopment of a water way similar to the Jones Falls has benefited the area surrounding it.
I think the redevelopment of the Indianapolis Waterfront's success should be used as a blue print for the Jones Falls. They did a great job there. There was a rendering of what Baltimore could look like in 2010 drawn in 1985. It was a clipping from a Magazine Article that a reader of this Blog sent to me. It had a lot more water. Not only did it have the JFX re exposed but there was a second similar water way going up the Westside of Downtown around Lexington Market. This "Second Jones Falls" probably will never be a reality but the first one is a hidden reality just waiting to be realized.

Obviously the tear down of a Major Interstate will disrupt the current flow of traffic. So "bundled" into the plan should be a solution to the added traffic back up. I'm speaking of course about the Yellow Line. As part of the JFX Tear Down, the beginning stage of the Yellow Line should be included to to give an alternative to the extended President St.
The Yellow Line will start from the exising Light Rail at Camden Yards while slowly migrating (tunneled) northeast to Calvert St. just one block west of the JFX. This first phase will end at Penn Station where, for the time being, it can rejoin the Central Light Rail. This Central Light Rail "spur" will be eliminated when future phases of the Yellow Line are completed north of Penn Station.

While we're talking transit, I think the East Baltimore Spur of the Red Line I have constantly proposed will help relieve traffic congestion. People living in East Baltimore could take the Red Line Downtown instead of their cars and they can hop on the Yellow Line if they choose to go north or continue on the Red Line going west. The Green Line will help with Northeast riders and the proposed Red Line will help with the Southeast but this additional spur will help with Central East Baltimore which is poised for a Population Boom with the Hopkins Biotech Park and associated redevelopment.

Demolished Highway? Jones Falls as a Tourist Attraction? New Development on the Penn Fallsway Surface Lots? Additional Transit Lines? This adds up to one thing and one thing only; Higher Pedestrian Counts. What needs to be done with both the current and the extended President St. is to make the entire street more Pedestrian friendly from Aliceanna St. to Preston St. This means wide sidewalks, angled parking spaces, Pedestrian Crossing islands, and additional lighting. This will transform President St from a congested Boulevard to a truly integrated urban street with respect to Pedestrians, Transit Riders, Bikers, and Drivers alike.

Like I said at the beginning of the post I'm very much in favor of tearing down the JFX but it appears that several crucial aspects have been over looked which gave me no choice but to give the plan a FAIL grade. These deficiencies have been discussed and if added to implemented in the plan the FAIL grade will disappear from my radar.