Annapolis, MD – Instead of delivering on promises to reduce gridlock and create new jobs through infrastructure investment, Governor Larry Hogan’s transit program is like a broken down car waiting for a tow, said the Maryland Democratic Party today.
The Baltimore region’s transit system received its second consecutive “D” grade from the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance’s Transportation Report Card. The grade is based on low scores on the 12 indicators of a healthy transportation system, including a “F” grade for the system’s ability to provide access to jobs and an “F” grade for cost.
“Despite his many promises of creating jobs and reducing gridlock through transformational’ infrastructure projects, Baltimore’s transit system remains stalled under Governor Hogan,” said Maryland Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Matthews. “This rating is no surprise considering that Hogan cancelled the potentially transformative Red Line project, he has failed to deliver on the years-long effort to expand the Howard Street Tunnel, and his administration overpromised and underdelivered on the Baltimore Link bus system. It’s like a car stalled on the shoulder of the road waiting for a jump start, and Baltimore residents are stuck in the backseat paying the price for his failures.”
In June 2015, Governor Larry Hogan threw nearly a decade of effort and nearly $1 billion federal dollars down the drain when he cancelled the Red Line project, which would have connected the east and west sides of Baltimore, providing much-needed access to public transportation to areas of Baltimore where the median income is just over $31,000 and where 39 percent of households lack access to an automobile. According to the Jacob France Institute, the project would have spurred nearly $2 billion in economic activity in Baltimore during construction and create and support more than 9,000 jobs.
Hogan’s alternative, the BaltimoreLink bus plan, has failed to deliver the “transformative” change that was promised, and has failed to increase access to jobs and opportunity.
Earlier this month, Baltimore residents learned that a project to expand the Howard Street Tunnel was cancelled despite Governor Hogan’s promises in October 2016 that the project was “something that we’re going to make sure gets done.”