The state Mass Transit Administration has added four potential routes to the six it already is studying to extend light rail three-quarters of a mile from Cromwell Station to downtown Glen Burnie.
The routes were suggested by Glen Burnie residents at a meeting Jan. 25.
Ken Goon, MTA's director of planning and programming, said yesterday that the most popular of those routes would take the light rail line from the Cromwell Station across Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard where Dorsey Road turns into Eighth Avenue. The tracks would follow Eighth Avenue to Ritchie Highway near Glen Haven Memorial Gardens, then Ritchie Highway to a station in the Glen Burnie Town Center next to Arundel Center North.
"We're taking a look at that right now to see if it merits more study," Mr. Goon said.
The Eighth Avenue route runs as residents proposed it, but the MTA has made some revisions to three other routes, said MTA spokesman Anthony Brown.
He said he did not have the details of those routes.
Tony Brown, MTA's project manager for the Glen Burnie light rail extension, first mentioned the Eighth Avenue route at a meeting Friday of the Heart of Glen Burnie Merchants Association. Business owners said they were taken by surprise because the route was not among those the MTA had presented to the public in January.
"We were shocked by this new route," said Chuck Parlato, owner of Arundel Computers and president of the association, which represents about 30 small businesses.
Mr. Parlato's shop on Delaware Avenue looks out on the old Superblock, 5.6 acres of gravel and concrete that was supposed to be the center of Glen Burnie urban renewal. He is worried that the new route might discourage potential developers if it takes away land from the old Superblock. "I will fight if MTA wants to use a bit of the Superblock for the station," he said.
Merchants said they were not pleased that MTA officials told them safety, security, parking and crime would not be a problem if light rail was extended to downtown Glen Burnie. "I was very disappointed in Mr. Brown," Mr. Parlato said. "His answers were typical light rail rhetoric we've heard for years."
In a meeting at the Pascal Senior Center in January, the MTA outlined six possible light rail routes designed to draw people to downtown Glen Burnie in an effort to help the economy, reduce traffic and preserve the long-term option of extending light rail to Marley Station and Annapolis.
Two of the routes the MTA proposed would run north along Georgia Avenue; the others would run south along Greenway Avenue. The stops would end at walk-up stations between Maryland and Delaware avenues, at the YMCA building near Platzer Lane or at the Glen Burnie Carnival Grounds along Post 40 Road.
The MTA will narrow the number of alignments under consideration and plans to distribute the report at public libraries within two weeks. The light rail suggestions made by residents will be included in the report, Anthony Brown said.
No public hearing will be held until after environmental impact statements on the alignments are completed in spring 1996, Mr. Goon said.
The MTA will be holding several informal meetings with the public between now and then, he said.
