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March 6, 2006
BTA Board Meeting Scheduled for March 22, 2006 The BTA Board of Advisors will meet Wednesday, March 22, 2006 from 8 to 10 AM at GBC's offices, 111 S. Calvert Street. Meetings are open to Board members only.
General Assembly Considers Bills on Transit Funding and Red Line Planning At the mid-point of the 2006 legislative session more than a dozen bills affecting transit funding and planning are making their way through the process. These bills fall into three general categories: 1) to dedicate a portion of the existing sales tax to transit; 2) to establish advisory committees for the MTA in general or the Red Line in particular, as well as study specific alternatives; and 3) to require public hearings before services can be changed or MARC stations closed. The sales tax bills are important because they recognize that the state needs a structural solution to the chronic underfunding of transit, but they are unlikely to pass because they pit transit programs against other programs traditionally funded by the state sales tax. Most of the rest of the bills stem from concerns raised by communities about their voice in the transit planning process, including both short term decisions about bus schedules and long term decisions about new rail projects. The challenge for both legislators and the MTA is to foster communication without making the projects hostage to the concerns of narrow interests. While little progress has been made on any of these issues, legislators who opposed the impending closure of four MARC stations successfully convinced MTA to reverse itself and keep the stations open pending a review by a committee of riders. The see MTA's statement on the MARC stations, click here.
Double Track Project Comes to Close with Re-opening to Hunt Valley On February 26 MTA celebrated the completion of the Light Rail Double Track project and the re-opening of the last few miles of the line to Hunt Valley. The project budget was $153.6 million, of which $120 million was provided through the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts program. MTA also took the opportunity to replace the ticket vending machines and implement a $13.6 million upgrade of the track signals to a "cab code" system that includes automatic speed controls. For the first time in more than two years the entire 30-mile line is open, and riders benefit from 10-minute peak hour frequencies between Timonium and North Linthicum. North end riders are finding more to see and do as residential and commercial projects are completed, including Howard Street, on the campuses of the University of Baltimore and Maryland Institute College of Art, Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse's Clipper Mill, and a new Hunt Valley Towne Centre with a pedestrian promenade leading to the station.
Five New Projects Proposed for Federal "Full Funding" The Federal Transit Administration's recently released FY 2007 "New Starts" budget includes five additional projects totalling $303 million. New Starts funding is competitively awarded, and projects must survive a rigorous feasibility review before they are recommended to Congress. The project includes light rail lines in Denver, Portland, and Dallas, and commuter rail projects outside Portland and Salt Lake City. The Dallas project is the largest with a total project budget of $1.4 billion, of which 50% is expected to come from the New Starts program. The budget proposal also includes $100 million for "Small Starts" where the federal share does not exceed $75 million.
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