Seriously, this is a project where it's difficult to count all the "bads." It's bad for Smart Growth, bad for the 268.6 acres of trees it would obliterate, bad for the Chesapeake Bay, bad for national energy policy, bad for the security of our country, bad for Baltimore, bad for Prince George's County, bad for much of Montgomery County, bad for people in Frederick County who don't want it to be the next Montgomery County, bad for the rational distribution of growth in our state, bad for Maryland toll facility customers if they aren't vigilant, bad for the state's transit future, bad for highway projects in other corners of the state and bad for the poor slobs whose homes lie in its path.
This project is the baddest.
It has been suggested that this column has been stoking regional division. Not so, I'm suggesting that Baltimore unite with its fellow jurisdictions around the state and stage a loving intervention to help Montgomery County get the asphalt monkey off its back.
Let's let the Montgomery Council (240-777-7900) know we're happy to help them with well-thought-out transit projects because we have similar needs here in Baltimore and a common interest in a healthy bay. Kindly explain that friends don't let friends blow $4.6 billion on an exercise in futility.
Ben Ross of the Action Committee for Transit has a detailed proposal for rail improvements in the I-270 corridor that could lessen dependence on single-passenger vehicles. Yes, some of his proposals have been rejected in the past, but in view of the inflated cost of new highway lanes, those ideas merit a second look. You can find it at actfortransit.org.
Among the advantages of transit projects is they aren't ravenous consumers of people's homes. The transit portion of the current I-270 project - known as the Corridor Cities Transitway - would cause fewer than 10 displacements. The proposed Red Line in Baltimore would take no homes at all.
So let's keep Grandma and Grandpa in their rocking chairs and out of the hands of these shadowy "residential displacement panels." If we're going to be pulling any plugs, let's start with the project that lusts after their homes.
