A Vision of a Connected Maryland.

MTOC believes that Maryland needs to create a connected rail transit network that stretches from Elkton to Waldorf to Hagerstown by building the Baltimore Red Line light rail from Bayview to Woodlawn, building Southern Maryland Rapid Transit light rail from Branch Avenue to Waldorf, and implementing the 2007 MARC Growth and Investment Plan plus an extension to Hagerstown.

Immediate steps the new state administration should take toward that goal are:

1) Fast-track the completion of the Baltimore Red Line light rail project to regain a Record of Decision in collaboration with the Federal Transit Administration. Re-evaluate the Final Environmental Impact Statement to reflect changes in conditions along the selected light rail route from Bayview to Woodlawn and execute any needed modifications.

2) Commit additional funding in the first 100 days of the Moore-Miller Administration, in MDOT‘s new FY23-28 Consolidated Transportation Program, to complete the NEPA process and secure a Record-of-Decision, as mandated by Section 7-713 of the Transportation Article enacted in 2021, for the 18.7-mile high-capacity, fixed-route Southern Maryland Rapid Transit project in the MD5-US301 corridor from the Branch Avenue Metrorail Station in Prince George’s County to Waldorf and White Plains in Charles County.

3) Implement the MARC improvements included in the “Maryland Regional Rail Transformation Act” (House Bill 778/Senate Bill 514) as a first step toward the goal of all-day, two-way MARC service on the Brunswick and Camden lines, subway-like service on the Penn Line from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore, and new MARC service to Elkton and Hagerstown.