Rain poured down as a crowd of 14 marched and rolled wheelchairs across East Pratt Street on the afternoon of June 24.
“Rain or shine, build the Red Line!” they chanted.
The group is composed of members of the Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition, also known as “BTEC Nation.” BTEC is “a resolute, community-led organization advocating for equitable, reliable transit that improves quality of life and the environment,” its website states.
“What do we want?” Baltimore County Delegate Sheila Ruth, a Democrat, asked the marching crowd.
“The Red Line!” they responded.
“When do we want it?”
“Now!”
“Eight years ago,” Ruth added.
“For eight years, we have seen no expansion of public transit, no meaningful improvements in reliability, no meaningful reduction in commute times, no meaningful increase in frequency of bus service, and for eight years, we’ve had no significant investment in public transportation”
Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition President Samuel Jordan
They marched to commemorate the death of the Red Line light rail project, planned to connect Baltimore east to west, that Republican Governor Larry Hogan canceled in 2015. Hogan said the Red Line did not meet Baltimore’s needs and deemed it too expensive. He then invested the funds intended for the Red Line into highway projects, the Baltimore Sun reported.
BTEC was born within hours of Hogan’s announcement to cancel the Red Line, the group’s President Samuel Jordan said in an interview in May. Some of its members, including Jordan and Gayle Briscoe, had been long-term followers of the project — Briscoe for over a decade.
“For eight years, we have seen no expansion of public transit, no meaningful improvements in reliability, no meaningful reduction in commute times, no meaningful increase in frequency of bus service, and for eight years, we’ve had no significant investment in public transportation,” Jordan said.
But the June gathering was also a celebration.
In May, Democratic Governor Wes Moore passed the Transportation Equity Act, legislation unique to Maryland drafted by BTEC and sponsored by Ruth and Baltimore City Democratic Senator Jill Carter.
The Transportation Equity Act requires a cost-benefit and equity analysis before changes to public transportation projects may occur.
Had the Transportation Equity Act been in effect then, Jordan says, the Red Line could not have been canceled because it would provide a beneficial and necessary service to many people of color.
“It gives us an actual legal basis for objecting, opposing, and changing transit policy,” Jordan told Sheilah Kast on WYPR’s May 30 edition of “On the Record.”
In 2015, the NAACP filed a federal civil rights complaint against Maryland, arguing that Hogan violated Title VI of the Civil Rights of 1964, which protects Americans from being denied the benefits of federally funded programs based on race.
In May, Democratic Governor Wes Moore passed the Transportation Equity Act, legislation unique to Maryland drafted by BTEC and sponsored by Ruth and Baltimore City Democratic Sen. Jill Carter.
Data from the National Equity Atlas shows that 28% of Baltimore City households do not own cars, compared to the national average of 9%. White households are least likely to be without cars, while more than one-third of Black households are carless.
The complaint maintained that Black Baltimoreans were disproportionately impacted by the scrapping of the Red Line, but the case was “administratively closed” by the Department of Transportation under Donald Trump.
Moore announced on June 15 that the Maryland Transit Authority would continue developing the Red Line in a move “to make sure that everyone in the region can get from where they live to where opportunity lies.”
The proposed route runs 14 miles from Woodlawn to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, providing access to economic, academic, social, and medical resources. Three stations would offer connections north and south via the MARC Penn line, light rail, and the Metro subway.
BTEC is fighting for the light rail as the primary mode along the proposed route. Currently, the MTA Light Rail only runs north to south. Light rail set off from traffic in its own lane or in the median would improve travel times and increase reliability.
“The light rail that we have now isn’t prioritized,” said Evan Gombert, a BTEC administrative worker. “It has to wait for traffic, traffic doesn’t wait for it.”
Jordan said Moore must have the original “stolen Red Line” completed, which had a record of decision that “authorizes the respective state transportation agency to proceed with design, land acquisition, and construction based on the availability of funds,” BTEC’s website states.
The only thing needed, they say, is a re-evaluation of the 2012 Final Environmental Impact Statement.
The analyses required by the Transportation Equity Act are necessary before changes can be made to existing public transportation services, and are therefore not applicable to the current Red Line project.
However, the “MTA is committed to a robust, transparent community engagement approach built around equitable opportunity to both access information and inform the project as it advances,” Jerimiah Moerke, MTA director of media relations, said in an emailed statement in June.
A detailed corridor study of the project that includes cost-benefit and impact analyses is set to be completed by the fall, according to the Red Line website.
The Red Line’s development prompted plans to enhance the areas it ran through: additional green spaces, stormwater management, infrastructure restoration, and pedestrian and bicyclist priority.
Corridor studies involve the MTA, its jurisdictional partners, and the public. They set area-specific goals and identify preferred transit options like “potential routes, modes and service characteristics,” according to the website for the Regional Transit Plan, a 25-year plan to improve public transportation across central Maryland.
“We have a strong basis from which to move this project forward quickly, while still updating and modernizing the project to better meet our region’s needs and aspirations today,” Moerke said.
The Red Line’s website says the relaunch “builds upon the extensive technical work and community engagement conducted prior to the 2015 cancellation of the project.”
The Red Line was being planned thoughtfully, attempting to avoid replicating the issues of other transportation in the city. A 2008 community compact summarized considerations for the Red Line that spoke to the intersectionality of transit and areas like sustainability, housing, economics, and community improvement.
The Red Line’s development prompted plans to enhance the areas it ran through: additional green spaces, stormwater management, infrastructure restoration, and pedestrian and bicyclist priority.
The federal government under the Obama Administration in 2011 chose the Red Line among 13 other priority infrastructure projects nationwide “for an expedited permitting and environmental review process,” its Final Environmental Impact Statement said.
The goal was to employ local contractors and laborers for its construction. Hundreds of community members were involved in planning and feedback, with the potential for hundreds more throughout its lifespan.
BTEC is also working on a petition campaign to establish a Baltimore Regional Transportation Authority so community members can make decisions regarding public transit. Currently, the state is responsible for Baltimore’s public transportation.
They hope to collect 20,000 signatures to put a question for the establishment of a BRTA on the November 2024 ballot.
As the group walked the streets of Baltimore, they pointed to passersby, telling them, “You deserve a Red Line!” Some shouted back their agreement.