News Article

MARC stations will get $10.3 million for improvements


(2/26/2009) The MARC commuter rail system will receive $10.3 million of President Barack Obama's recently passed economic stimulus funds to launch a series of station improvements this spring.

U.S. Rep. C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-2nd District, will announce the MARC projects tomorrow at a news conference at the MARC station at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Joined by Maryland Transit Administration officials, Ruppersberger is expected to announce that $3 million of the stimulus funds will be used for improvements to the elevators and heating and cooling system at the BWI station.

The congressman is also expected to outline plans to spend $4 million for new canopies and windows at Penn Station and $400,000 for improvements to the MARC storage facility at Martin State Airport in Baltimore County. The MARC spending comes on top of a previously announced plan to renovate the MARC station in Laurel at the cost of $2.9 million.

Military base realignment plan According to Ruppersberger's office, the MARC improvements are "shovel-ready" projects that will begin this spring and create more than 240 jobs.

MTA spokeswoman Jawauna Greene confirmed that the projects are ready to move forward. She said the need for MARC improvements is especially urgent because of the expected influx of military workers coming to Maryland as part of the base realignment process known as BRAC.

"We need to have our MARC infrastructure up and running when BRAC hits," said Greene. Among the places MARC serves are Aberdeen and Fort Meade, both of which are expected to gain jobs as a result of the realignment.

In a related development, the Greater Baltimore Committee reported today that the MTA also plans to move ahead with plans to expand parking at the MARC station in West Baltimore.

According to the GBC, the MTA will double the station's current capacity by building two new commuter lots with 400 spaces. The MTA would make way for the new construction by demolishing a structure at Pulaski Street that marks the end of the "Highway to Nowhere" — the aborted interstate that is now U.S. 40. The $9 million project would also be financed with stimulus funds.

Greene confirmed the MTA's plans but said the parking structures are intended to serve transit-oriented development around the station as well as the MARC Penn Line.


By: Michael Dresser | michael.dresser@baltsun.com

Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun

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Source: The Baltimore Sun