BALTIMORE — Maryland transit officials are holding a series of open houses on the Red Line, the planned east-west transit corridor connecting Woodlawn in Baltimore County to Bayview in the city, as the project faces what state leaders are calling 'federal funding uncertainty.'
Caitlin Tobin, the Red Line project director, told WMAR-2 News the project is at a pivotal point. While the plan as recently as 2024 called for a light rail line, she said much has changed since then.
"We have to adapt to our surroundings, and we have to have a transparent dialogue about each of these paths," Tobin said in a Friday interview.
The state is hosting four open houses to gather public input and survey opinions:
- Baltimore County: Saturday, May 2, 10 am - 12 pm, Woodlawn High School
- Downtown Baltimore: Tuesday, May 5, 3 pm - 5 pm, Baltimore War Memorial
- West Baltimore: Thursday, May 7, 6 pm - 8 pm, Edmondson High School
- Southeast Baltimore: Saturday, May 9, 11 am - 1 pm, Southeast Anchor Enoch Pratt Library
At the open houses, officials will present multiple options for the project's future.
"We're gonna be presenting the full light rail project, an option to phase the light rail project, and then present what implementing the project sooner could look like as a bus rapid transit project," Tobin said.
The Red Line has its origins in the 2000s; in 2015, after it was designed, then-Governor Larry Hogan canceled it, famously calling it a 'boondoggle.' He returned the federal funding and redirected state money to highways.
Governor Wes Moore later revived the project after he took office in 2023, and announced it would be a light rail line. Now, Tobin says the funding landscape has shifted again.
"To put a finer point on some of the things that have changed, the federal landscape is completely different. Federal grants are either being threatened or revoked. There's a lot of uncertainty there, inflation and tariffs, um, really are magnified for a mega project," Tobin said.
If the project moves forward as a bus rapid transit route, Tobin says it would be nationally leading, with over 80% of the corridor featuring exclusive or dedicated right-of-way for vehicles. Tobin told WMAR-2 News the time difference between the bus rapid transit option and light rail would be within 10 minutes.
The options carry significantly different price tags, MTA said in a press release. The "full 14-mile light rail transit line is $4.7 billion to $9 billion," it said.
"By comparison, a proposed first phase of the light rail project from Edmonson Village to the Shot Tower is estimated to cost approximately $2.2 billion. A mode change to bus rapid transit for the entire alignment could reduce costs to an estimated $750 million to $1 billion."
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