Restoring Balance to the Baltimore Region’s Transportation System

Governor Hogan’s cancelling of the Red Line destroys more than just the fifteen year effort to bring a priority infrastructure project to fruition — it also erases a symbol of progress towards restoring balance to the regional transportation system. Efforts to achieve real balance must not lose momentum, because they are central to the vitality of the city and needed for our region to reach its potential.

As early as the 1920s, the United Railway Company, then operator of Baltimore’s streetcars, urged passengers to mount a campaign to limit use of the streets by private automobiles. In the following decades, autos overwhelmed the streetcars, slowing them down and making it impossible for them to run on time.

The autos that took over Baltimore’s streets increasingly came from the suburbs. While policymakers today resist long-term investments in transit, government spending on roads and housing subsidies for the suburbs represented a massive redistribution of urban wealth. Unfortunately, the suburbs were permitted to grow in an unprincipled and disorganized way, racking up costs that would not become apparent until much later.

One of those costs is auto-dependency. Federal Highway Administration’s Livability Initiative finds that households in auto-dependent locations spend 25% of income on transportation, second only to housing at 32%. In “location efficient” environments where housing is located near employment and amenities, spending drops to 9%.

That extra 16% of household income represents a “car tax” paid annually. City residents pay more — for example, each parking space built in Baltimore City costs on average $16,000, according to 2014 data compiled by engineering firm Carl Walker, Inc. In order for developers to recoup the cost of parking requirements, renters in Baltimore pay approximately $2400 annually whether they have a car or not.

And 31% of city households do not have a car. For the 69% that do, an American Public Transportation Association analysis of AAA data finds that car ownership costs nearly $10,000 per year, or roughly 25% of median household income. The total economic impact if Baltimore City households eliminated one car would be $1.6 billion per year.

But restoring balance is not about personal wealth, streetcar nostalgia, or an arbitrary ratio of transit to cars. Rather, it’s about viewing the region as a system, properly valuing the urban core, and providing options that allow the public to get the benefit of available transportation modes. Within and between urban centers where physical space is scarce that often mean prioritizing transit over cars as the best way to move people.

The Red Line was designed to address urgent regional needs. Cars enter the Red Line corridor directly from six federal and state highways. More bus ridership funnels through this corridor than any other place in the transit system. Use of existing rail lines is impaired without a high-capacity line in this corridor.

The Red Line solution was to maximize grade separation, using a downtown tunnel and reclaiming the “Highway to Nowhere” median. A surface route in these conditions is not effective at reducing transit commute times, among the nation’s worst at 55 minutes, according to an Associated Press analysis of census data. Beyond the cost of car ownership, long transit demonstrate how our region is held back by an imbalanced transportation system. They reinforce racial segregation, exacerbate social problems, and impede workforce development.

Without an infrastructure solution like the Red Line, we will have to make quicker progress on a policy of prioritizing surface transit over automobile traffic. This means giving buses and trains priority at intersections and on major thoroughfares. Automobile traffic lanes must be reduced throughout the city to allow for transit lanes. Furthermore, we must continue building out bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, the most cost effective infrastructure for flexible and affordable mobility. Some will initially find restrictions on auto travel to be inconvenient, however, a “Complete Streets” policy is the only way to reduce the ever-growing demand on a fixed-size system.

Ultimately, long-term investments, system modernization, and policy reform are all needed. We need regional partnership to improve existing core service in Baltimore and create better linkages between regional communities, including connections between suburban job centers.

The payoff is a transportation system that supports lively urban places that are economic engines, create opportunities, stoke innovation, and retain local wealth in support of a more equitable society. The Red Line was a symbol of that kind of vision for our region, and it’s that vision that we must keep alive.