Commissioners discuss long-awaited light rail plans

Alignment, cost for transit route are more concrete

Friday, Nov. 27, 2009

Despite the gloomy financial climate and the headline-grabbing conflicts between the local government and Charles County residents, the groundbreaking on a project that would promote economic development and literally connect Southern Marylanders to other jurisdictions might be just a decade away.

A 19-mile light-rail transit system next to existing CSX rail tracks was one of two transportation alternatives introduced to the Charles County commissioners earlier this fall, and it's a plan that's had officials at the county and state level doing much more than talking over these past months.

"This gives us a line on a map we can actually begin to make policy around in terms of the future preservation of right-of-way, station locations and … location of operations and maintenance facilities," said Charles County Commissioner Gary V. Hodge (D) during the board's Sept. 22 meeting. "This of course fits very tightly with our strategic plans for future efforts in Charles County in terms of our focus on the urban core of Waldorf."

Of the five options studied by the Maryland Transit Authority and presented to the commissioners, the plan that would best support the land use and economic development goals of Charles County would run on the west side of Pope's Creek, east of Route 5.

While there's no definite price tag yet, Hodge said, considering the $1 billion cost of a purple Metro line, the light rail alternative would be much less.

During their Sept. 22 meeting, the Charles County commissioners were presented with a transit corridor preservation study by the Maryland Transit Authority, which outlined where, when and how a light rail transit system or bus rapid transit system could be established between White Plains and the Branch Avenue Metro station.

"[Light rail systems] operate on rails … principally on a very separate guide-way," said Jennifer Weeks, project manager of the corridor study. "They get their power from overhead electrical lines. We're assuming a fast-moving vehicle that will be traveling at speeds that match the adjacent roadways. What slows it down are curbs, grade crossings and stops.

"Bus rapid transit is a form of transit … that essentially uses rubber-tired vehicles but develops a system that simulates rail transportation. It's got the speed, comfort and all the benefits of a rail transit system … with a little more flexibility and less capital costs."

Begun in 2008, the transit study was a follow-up to the U.S. 301 and Route 5 Transit Staging Plan conducted in 2005, Weeks said.

"Prince George's County recently adopted a very general alignment into their master plan of transportation and it's also a part of their Subregion V Master Plan," Weeks said. "That's the type of effort we're hoping to see in Charles County."

An identified alignment allows a county to preserve certain areas that it wants from future development, but also allows developers to benefit from working within those restrictions, Weeks explained.

The Transit Authority considered Charles County's land use laws, environmental protection goals, conceptual capital costs and projected ridership to come up with the list of alternatives for the north-south connection.

"This alignment is probably engineered to the 10 percent level, which means lots of wiggle room and there's lots of opportunities to manipulate that in the future," Weeks said. "It assume a 2030 development year and that's something that's handed to us from the travel demand model we're using, from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. This model is currently being updated, so we're just using this as a litmus test."

Weeks said there are no assumptions to improvements to U.S. 301 but improvements for Route 5 were included.

Eleven station stops have been identified between DeMarr Road in Waldorf and Branch Avenue Metro station in Prince George's County, with an operations and maintenance facility located just south of the former.

Commuters starting their train trip at the DeMarr stop would have a roughly 36-minute one-way travel time and would pass through six miles of Charles County and 13 miles of Prince George's.

Buffers for both the rail and bus systems would be required, including a required 25-foot space between the existing CSX rail line and the proposed light rail system.

Getting to and from the Branch Avenue stop would require a tunnel, aerial or at-grade connection, the former of which is considered the most preferable option.

The MTA estimates there would be two stream crossings, and 4.71 acres of wetland, less than a quarter-acre of 100-year floodplain, just under 40 acres of forest and 8.48 acres for potential Forest Interior Dwelling Species that would be influenced in Charles County alone.

"There's never a free ride in this business," Weeks said. "There are going to be some impacts to residents and businesses. I think we'll probably have the attention of 20 residents and 23 businesses, because we'll be darn close."

Hodge explained that as the county waits for the final report due out by the end of the year there has been talk of the transit study during the commissioners' annual transportation tour meeting with the Maryland Department of Transportation and the "State of the County" meeting hosted by the Charles County Chamber of Commerce; during a rally to oppose the cross-county connector, a railway through Waldorf was categorized as a plan for a "better, alternative future" for Charles County.

"I'm excited about this … because there should be a very great connection … with the cross-county connector and the placing of DeMarr Road as a site is very important," said Commissioners' Vice President Edith J. Patterson (D) during the initial September meeting. "If you look at east-west travel and the relief that many residents can benefit from … it's simply fantastic. As we go out and talk to citizens, the first things they ask is when is light rail or bus coming; at least I'll have a better sense of when that is coming."

Over the summer the commissioners submitted a proposal to U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) in the hopes of being awarded $22 million in federal funds connected to the reauthorization of the federal transportation act.

"If we're successful in securing those funds we would be able to move forward about five years worth of in-depth studies the surface of which has just been scratched in this process here," Hodge said. "I hope to board a train in the next 10 or 15 years. I think that's the goal we're working toward."

"Now we have some ink on paper that we can actually show our citizens the progress we are making on a rail transit system for our citizens in Southern Maryland," said Commissioner Samuel N. Graves Jr. (D). "I think all of us benefit because we're taking some traffic off the roadways and lowering the number of vehicles lowers emissions. Everyone wins in this process."