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

• 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.