Imagine an old-fashioned electric streetcar rumbling along Rowe Boulevard, then onto West Street and down Main Street to the City Dock - transporting residents and visitors and transforming the jewel of Annapolis' maritime heritage into a pedestrian mall and promenade.
It would be a striking change from the traffic-clogged arteries in and around the city.
That's the vision that Annapolis Alderman Samuel E. Shropshire, a mass transit proponent and environmentalist, is pushing to make a reality.
In a letter to the Baltimore Regional Transportation Board, which is trying to figure out what mass transit projects to fund with about $340 million in previously unallocated revenue over 20 years, Shropshire makes a pitch for the project.
"Please give that extra $340 million to Maryland's state capital, Annapolis, so we can build a street-car system - enabling people to live and work without cars," Shropshire wrote.
But Annapolis has stiff competition.
More than 150 ideas on how to use the revenue were submitted to the board, which will publicly unveil a draft plan Dec. 16, allowing time for public comment before the plan is to be adopted Feb. 4.
Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, the board's chairman, said that while he applauded Shropshire for "thinking big, for thinking progressively and pro-actively," it is highly unlikely that all of the funding would go to one project in a single jurisdiction.
Ulman said the board will look at short-term projects such as the expansion of Park 'N' Ride and more MARC trains and buses, and long-term projects such as the planned Red Line and Green Line additions to Baltimore's Metro system.
"The challenge is, even $340 million does not buy much these days," Ulman said. "With the cost of everything going up, we need long-term dedicated revenue systems funding transportation so we can really step up and get people out of their cars."
Ulman continued: "We're so backed up in the Baltimore region, I'd love to see mass transit connecting downtown Columbia, as well. We also need to remember the D.C. Metro has not yet connected to Dulles [International Airport]. These projects are incredibly expensive. And the federal government hasn't been a very good partner over the last eight years. But the important thing is we plan for them, and think big and think bold."
