Baltimore transportation

The Baltimore Light RailLink. The light rail system, which serves the city of Baltimore as well as its surrounding suburbs, is operated by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA Maryland). In downtown Baltimore, it uses city streets. Outside the central portions of the city, the line is built on private rights-of-way, mostly from the defunct Northern Central Railway, Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad and Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway. In 2021, the system had a ridership of 2,718,100, or about 9,900 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2022. (photo credit MDOT via Baltimore Metropolitan Council)

Programs

Re-imagining Baltimore's regional transit system: Three perspectives

Tom Hall

A report by the Baltimore Metropolitan Council proposes a new regional commission to fund and administer rail and bus lines for the greater Baltimore region. Three men with with keen insights into those plans join us to explain.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore speaking before President Joe Biden on January 30 in Baltimore, at the North Portal of the 160 year-old Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel. Both men praised plans for a 10-year, $6 billion-dollar federal-state infrastructure project that would build a new high-speed rail tunnel and restore the existing one. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Programs

B&P Tunnel: As a $6B replacement plan rolls out, some locals protest

Tom Hall

President Biden, Gov. Moore and Mayor Scott on Monday called the new Tunnel project a boon to regional transit and local jobs. Today, perspectives from a Banner reporter, and a local tunnel opponent.

A westward view of the never-completed West Baltimore extension to Interstate 70, now known as "the Highway to Nowhere." The massive road project was started in 1974 but scrapped in 1979, largely due to environmental and neighborhood activists. Only 1.4 of the slated 2.3 miles of I-170 were ever built. More than 1,500 mostly Black West Baltimore residents were displaced; 971 homes, 62 businesses, and one school were demolished. The area would never recover. (photo credit Wikimedia Commons)

Programs

Baltimore's highway wars: author E.Evans Paull, with Klaus Philipsen

Tom Hall

"Stop the Road" author E. Evans Paull and architect/urban planner Klaus Philipsen recount Baltimore's decades-long battles — some won, some lost — to stave off massive, community-destroying highway projects.

Traffic lights at the intersection of 23rd and Maryland Avenue (Photo credit: Aaron Henkin / WYPR)

WYPR Podcast

Why can’t Baltimore synchronize its traffic lights?

Aaron Henkin

Is there any rhyme or reason to how the reds and greens are coordinated?

Programs

Sean Yoes on Maryland politics and his new media projects

Tom Hall

The former Afro columnist riffs on local politics, his new podcast and the film he's made about this broken city.

BaltimoreLink was launched in 2017 by the Maryland Transportation Authority (MTA) to create a more efficient and reliable bus network by spreading out the routes within the downtown core and creating a grid of high-frequency routes. (photo by Michael Wilson, via Flickr)

Programs

Baltimore's transit inequities are taking a toll on public health

Tom Hall

A new report co-authored by today's guests finds serious public health impacts from the city's inadequate bus & rail system.

Programs

Baltimore's Transit Could See More Cuts

Sheilah Kast

With many bus and train riders staying home during the pandemic, transit agencies across the country are being hit with huge losses in revenue and facing…

WYPR News

Proposed Baltimore Bus Route Cuts Are “Impactful,” State Transit Head Says

Emily Sullivan

Transit officials, school officials and transit riders appeared virtually before the Baltimore City Council Wednesday night to discuss the Maryland…

WYPR News

Harford Road Goes On A ‘Road Diet’

Emily Sullivan

The city has put a busy business corridor in northeast Baltimore on a “road diet” — reducing the number of lanes for cars and installing floating bus…

WYPR News

Baltimore City Approves Three Year Contract With Charm City Circulator Operators

Emily Sullivan

The Baltimore City Board of Estimates has approved a $25.9 million contract with the ongoing Charm City Circulator operators to continue overseeing the…