Maryland’s Planned Transit Alignment Alternatives Evaluated for Capital and Operating Costs through a Comprehensive Feasibility Study.
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Maryland’s Regional Transit Plan (RTP) focusing on 30 corridors was finalized in September 2020 with the main goal of establishing a plan for improving public transportation in the region over the next 25 years. This study summarized the feasibility study for two of the RTP corridors; Johns Hopkins Bayview to West Baltimore (Corridor 17) and Convention Center to Ellicott City (Corridor 16), which were merged into a single East-West corridor approximately 15-20 miles in length from Bayview to Ellicott City via Downtown Baltimore. The feasibility analysis highlighted the cost estimations for building and operating transit in the study area. A total of seven alternative scenarios were considered incorporating Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Heavy Rail Transit (HRT), and Light Rail Transit (LRT) modes.
Table 1 below summarizes the cost estimates for each of the seven alternative alignments considered in this study.
Table 1. Results of Feasibility Analysis
Alternatives |
1 (BRT) |
2 (BRT) |
3 (BRT & HRT) |
4 (LRT) |
5 (BRT) |
6 (LRT) |
7 (BRT) |
Endpoints |
Ellicott City - Bayview |
Ellicott City - Bayview |
Ellicott City - Bayview |
CMS-Essex |
CMS-Essex |
CMS-Bayview |
CMS-Bayview |
Length (miles) |
22.7 |
18.4 |
19.1 |
16.4 |
17.1 |
14.1 |
14.2 |
Number of Stations |
39 |
36 |
25 |
28 |
33 |
19 |
31 |
Average Station Spacing (miles) |
0.6 |
0.5 |
0.8 |
0.6 |
0.5 |
0.7 |
0.5 |
Capital Cost ($ Millions) |
1100 |
1000 |
4200 |
3100 |
900 |
3800 |
800 |
Annual Operating Cost ($ Millions) |
16 |
14 |
53 |
46 |
13 |
36 |
11 |
Implementation Time (Years) |
6-8 |
6-8 |
10-12 |
8-10 |
6-8 |
7-9 |
5-7 |
- As can be seen in Table 1 above, this study estimated the capital cost for the alternative transit alignments utilizing BRT mode to range between $800 Million and $1.1 Billion, with annual operating costs between $11 million and $16 million. The length of four BRT alternatives ranges between 14.2 and 22.7 miles.
- The capital cost for LRT alternatives was estimated to range from $3.1 billion to $3.8 billion, with annual operating costs between $36 million and $46 million.
- Number of stations for BRT alternatives varied from 31 to 39 while number of stations for LRT alternatives varied from 19 to 28.