From Christopher Boardman:
Recently Maryland Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn testified before a state legislative committee that The Red Line would not be built because it contained a “fatal flaw”, a tunnel designed within the line that would cost an estimated $1 billion out of the $3 billion forecast for the project. He mentioned a problem with a Seattle, Washington project where a giant boring machine broke down, leading to complications.
But surprisingly, Mr. Rahn didn’t mention the very successful excavation projects that continue to benefit this region for long periods of time.
The first project was initiated nearly 200 years ago, the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. There was not a lot of money available in the 1820’s to build that 14 mile long canal connecting the Delaware River and the Chesapeake Bay, but its benefits were obvious to observers long before then, as early as the 1650’s when Augustine Herman envisioned the project. It took decades, or more than a century and a half to get that canal built. In 1764 Philadelphians Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush supported the canal, and the first canal company was formed in 1802. But funds were not obtained for the canal until the 1820’s. $2 million was raised initially with Pennsylvania contributing $100,000, Maryland $50,000, Delaware $25,000 and the U.S. Government $450,000. The difference was covered by private investors. Even then, when the canal opened in 1829 through the efforts of 2,600 men with picks and shovels, and mule drivers with wagons, $3.5 million was spent, a lot of money for the time. But the benefits were obvious and long-lasting.
The history of the C & D Canal is colorful and fascinating, but eventually President Theodore Roosevelt appointed a commission in 1906 to convert the canal to a “free and open waterway,” doing away with a cumbersome lock system that was leaking and required steam engines to move water. Today, according to Wikipedia, today’s canal carries 40 percent of all ship traffic in and out of Baltimore.
“The canal is vital to the ports of the Delaware River, Baltimore, and others along the northern Atlantic trade routes,” Wikipedia reports. Former Rep. Helen D. Bentley, a favorite of Republicans opposing the Red Line, owes much of the success of her career to the C and D Canal.
This was not the only “hole in the ground” that benefited Baltimore.
The Baltimore Harbor Tunnel was built in 1956-57, connecting the south shore of the Patapsco River to the north shore near Dundalk. Twenty one sections of 310 foot tubing were submerged into the harbor in what was probably a more challenging excavation than envisioned in the Red Line construction.
That project was so successful and heavily used that the region built an even wider tunnel, the Fort McHenry Tunnel, which opened in 1985. The Fort McHenry Tunnel closed the gap on I-95 from Maine to Florida. Its cost: $750 million, with annual traffic of 43.4 million vehicles in 2009.
There weren’t any “fatal flaws” or big problems with those excavations. Was Mr. Rahn also against them?
It’s interesting that Baltimoreans apparently always loved holes in the ground. During the Civil War, a tunnel was dug from the B & O Railroad Camden Station south to the north side of Federal Hill, then to Fort McHenry. Now that tunnel did not last, unlike the others.
Now the Hogan Administration is spending the money that is being collected from an increased gasoline tax that would have benefited the Red Line, on outlying rural and suburban road projects. Columnist Dan Rodricks recently pointed out that those expenditures will be benefiting the districts of legislators who mostly voted against the new taxes, an act of hypocrisy not lost on him. The especially sorry aspect of this is that when Red Line is eventually built, these frivolous new road projects will have cost the taxpayers a lot more money than if the Red Line construction were started without further delay. So-called penny-pinching Republicans will have made everything more expensive for everyone.
Baltimore badly needs a comprehensive regional mass transportation plan that will relieve motorist congestion, enable commuters to get to and from work more easily and enable greater mobility throughout the region. The big cities on the eastern seaboard, from Boston to Washington D.C. all have modern passenger transit systems with the exception of Baltimore. Even Governor Hogan gave the go-ahead to the Purple Line in Prince Georges and Montgomery Counties while the D.C. region already has the Metro. But Baltimore lags far behind. The economic benefits will be manifold with this type of modernization. Citizens should demand that construction on The Red Line begin as soon as possible.
Christopher “Krist” Boardman is a prison nurse, freelance writer and book author, a member of the Citizens Advisory Committee of the Baltimore Regional Transportation Board, and a member of the Harford County Democratic Central Committee. He can be reached at kristboardman@outlook.com.
I thought this was axed…..
It was axed, at least for now. Most likely, some form of it will be built under the next governor’s administration. Like the issue with the Inter-County Connector, cancelling a project once doesn’t mean that the need for it goes away.
Assuming that there is a need.
It was axed, and Fells Point residents are GRATEFUL for the most part. They don’t want the white shirt gang trouble the harbor has. Boardman’s just butthurt.
In that case, they live in fantasy land. Fells Point is very close to Hopkins hospital. That area has not been gentrified like Fells Point. If the residents of Fells Point are hoping that this lack of mass transit will bring them isolation, they are sadly mistaken. It appears to be a sign of too much money and not enough sense.
Whereas I agree that affordable public transportation in most cases benefits the community and enhances job opportunities which is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately it can also adversely impact neighborhoods from a crime point of view. One only needs to look at the Cockeysville area. Check out the difference in that community’s crime rate before and after the light rail arrived. I think that was the point that Fed up in Harford was trying to convey.
I understand his or her suburban fears. My point is that when one lives and/works in a city, the fear of petty criminals, the kind that take mass transit to commit crimes, is minimal for two reasons. One, there are serious criminals out there. The other reason is that the way neighborhood system is laid out, petty criminals are usually within walking distance and are a constant aggravation. Therefore, most people are on guard for them and take steps to mitigate their impact.
The main concern against the Red Line that I’ve heard actually came from Canton. The issue there was about the tracks being above ground and ruining the views and walkability of the area. The area already has its crime, so these other concerns sound far more plausible.
I do, however, understand the fear suburban people have about petty criminals. If a large mass transit line were, for some reason, to run all the way to Bel Air, I could see the locals being caught completely unaware by the potential for shoplifting and other minor crimes, making that area a happy hunting ground until people got their act together.
This red line project certainly benefits no one in Harford County. It in no ways reduces congestion anywhere within Harford County and in no way reduces congestion for commuters heading down 95 to the city or up 95 to APG. The Baltimore city citizens who live in the outlying neighborhoods that would be affected do not support it because it represents a huge disruption for years of construction and just makes it easier for trouble to move around and into their neighborhoods. An east-west line is a very expensive and dumb idea.
What does ease congestion in Harford County is expanded MARC service.
The problem with Harford County is that a developer can glue together 100 stick homes in an open plot of land faster than a construction contractor can do something with the road. Been going on for the past 40 years.
Hopefully the BRAC stuff is true and at least a few thousand car tripsa day will be gone.
That helps Route 40 and MD 22, but not I95. Most of that traffic is going to and from Baltimore and its immediate surrounding area. That congestion will remain as long as Harford County relies on the City for its better paying jobs.
Flawed logic for 2 reasons. 1. Permits have been on a downward spiral for several years now. 2. You like shrinking tax bases?
Congestion in Harford County? Where? I grew up in NJ – road congestion was part of our daily lives. One of the great things for us about moving to Harford County was the lack of road congestion. I guess it all depends on your point of view.
Money Tree specifically mentioned I95 as being congested. If you enjoy sitting in that kind of traffic, more power to you.
He did say “It in no ways reduces congestion anywhere within Harford County.” Using the words “all roads” means exactly that, not only I-95. Jersey roads are congested. Harford County roads come nowhere close to that level.
Bottomless pit known as Baltimore.
Just more nice stuff for groups of residents to destroy.
With logic like “If some holes in the ground were good for Maryland, then all holes in the ground must be good for Maryland”, it’s surprising that all of Boardman’s political attempts went down in flames!
Personally I’d like to see what we have in our county Improved first.
There are so many roads in Harford that could use an actual pave job its not funny. Cold patch after cold patch.
A developer must have funded Laurel Bush recently cuz’ that road wasn’t half as bad as many others. I loved how they left the road ground down for a month, I was beginning to think a contractor came to repossess the asphalt. Got all them cookie cutters going in on the Hookers Farm.
I swear these county hillbillies must repave roads that the local politicians live on.
A new housing development will soon be built on Laurel Bush on the former farm about a mile from the Hookers Mill/Laurel Bush intersection.
Hence, why I said developer. Duh…
I guess when someone else shells out the cash you pave what you can do, for free.
“Harford Resident,” change your name to “Cant read” user “Failed High School” already mentioned the hooker farm development.
There’s an old saying…If you find yourself in a hole, quit digging. The tax and spend policies of the past have finally reached a saturation point leaving a fiscal hole that can no longer be filled with more taxes. So…QUIT DIGGING!
Don’t care what the supporters of this Red Line state. It’s merely another massive waste of taxPAYER monies to build another conduit for criminals to more easily get to the suburbs. Same deal as the expansion of the Light Rail, as just one example, that saw all the surrounding neighborhoods experiencing dramatic increases in vehicle thefts, home daytime B & E’s, retail shoplifting, etc. ad nauseum.
Baltimore City is dying on the vine and has been for decades. The recent riots pretty much put the final nails in the coffin especially as far as job creation, company start-up’s and so forth are concerned. Why pee away good money after bad for a dying jurisdiction?
Lastly, exactly WHO would even benefit from a Red Line? Despite trying, I fail to see any benefit even for the preponderance of City residents. The cost in dollars to build this white elephant is too high and the State has always had to spend incessantly as fares have never covered the costs despite all the “planners” who swore they would
Baltimore Regional Transportation Board,
um, hey Chris, what is the BRTB? who is the head? what is the source of it’s funding? how do you join? where can I find its budget and mission statement?
http://www.baltometro.org/about-brtb/brtb-committees/baltimore-regional-transportation-board
Thx; chkd the site: even chkd the Md REGIONAL site; still not clear WHO funds it all. or, need I ask?
I dug through the site a bit. For the regional transportation board, according to one sentence under the FAQ section of a page called “Functions of an MPO”, all of these regional boards are funded by the federal Transportation Department. Whether this is the annual appropriations bill or the Highway Bill, I couldn’t tell you.
The Baltimore Metropolitan Council has its annual reports on the site. It is funded mostly by the MTA and the Maryland Department of Transportation.
The “holes in the ground” used by Mr Boardman as examples of successful project differ in one minor detail from the flawed Red Line proposal. THEY MADE MONEY YOU DIP$#*T!! They paid their own way! NO public Transit in Baltimore covers even half of its own operating expenses so, aside from a 5 Billion dollar cost (no one with a clue expects any Government Funded project to come in anywhere close to the projections) the Red line would be a continual and ever increasing drain on taxpayers forever.
The C&D Canal itself makes money?
Like the proposed Red Line, a canal indirectly aids commerce, whether or not user fees cover or even partially defray costs.