page_title: Red Line (Baltimore)
section_title: Modified alternative 4C selected by governor
hierarchical_section_title: Red Line (Baltimore) / Background / Modified alternative 4C selected by governor
caption_attribution_description: English: ANNAPOLIS, Md. (May 28, 2010) Maryland Governor Martin J. O'Malley gives remarks during the U.S. Naval Academy 2010 graduation and commissioning ceremony. The Class of 2010 graduated 755 ensigns and 257 Marine Corps 2nd lieutenants at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Alexia Riveracorrea/Released)
context_page_description: The Red Line was a planned east–west mass transit light rail line for Baltimore, Maryland. Although it had been granted federal approval to enter the preliminary engineering phase, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared on June 25, 2015 that he would not provide state funds for the project. The line's construction had been estimated to begin in late 2015–early 2016, subject to funding, with a completion date set for late 2021–early 2022.
  The Red Line cancellation was briefly investigated by the United States Department of Transportation for being in possible violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but the investigation was closed with no finding. While the project currently remains inactive since Hogan's decision to cancel it, the future of the project was a platform issue for the 2018 Maryland gubernatorial election, with Democratic candidates having campaigned to revive the Red Line.
context_section_description: In August 2009, then-Governor Martin O'Malley selected a modified version of the Light Rail Alternative 4C, which became known as the "Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA)." The modification eliminated two stations and a small parking lot from the original Alternative 4C plans, but included an expansion of parking at the West Baltimore MARC station.
  Two features of the original Alternative 4C plan, considered important by the Citizens Advisory Council, remained part of the Locally Preferred Alternative:
  Much of the proposed route through West Baltimore ran generally along U.S. Route 40, including the depressed freeway section left over from the cancellation of Interstates 70 and 170 within the city limits.  This freeway section was built to accommodate a transit line in the median, and the Red Line would most likely have used this route to achieve grade separation though the area. The western end of former I-170 was demolished in 2010 to allow for additional parking and median access for the Red Line. A similar modification was also planned for the eastern end of former I-70, where the MD 122/Security Boulevard interchange would be converted to an at-grade intersection, and a new Park & Ride lot would have been built to replace the one that sits east of said interchange. At the rebuilt intersection, the Red Line would have gone through the western portal of the Cooks Lane tunnel, MD 122 would have tied directly into Forest Park Avenue, and Cooks Boulevard would have been a westward extension of Cooks Lane, built as a surface road on the old I-70 alignment. Although the modifications have not yet occurred, I-70 from MD 122 to I-695 was decommissioned in 2014 and now ends at its stack interchange with I-695.
  The LPA provided for the line to go underground along Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard and to surface on Boston Street near the Can Company in Canton, bypassing downtown Baltimore's narrow streets and crowded traffic conditions. Another tunnel bypasses Cooks Lane, but the original LPA version reduced the tunnel to a single track alignment. Adjustments to the LPA were later made to allow a second track in the Cooks Lane tunnel.
  With the Federal Transit Administration's approval in June 2011 to start preliminary engineering, the project made its first step beyond the concept stage; however, the FTA estimated daily ridership for the completed system at 57,000 and expected it to cost a total of $2.2 billion with inflation included. Henry Kay, MTA's deputy administrator, estimated the cost of preliminary engineering at $65 million. The state would have had to pay preliminary engineering costs, but Kay said that these and other upfront costs would be eligible for federal reimbursement.
caption: Governor O'Malley oversaw much of the Red Line's planning and engineering.
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