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Transit Dollars And Data

Multimodal users of The Big Jump, a safe lane across the 28th St. bridge (over Highway 83) in Baltimore. It's an example of Complete Streets infrastructure that allows bikers, walkers and people using wheelchairs or other mobility devices to safely travel alongside cars. Credit: Side A Photography
Multimodal users of The Big Jump, a safe lane across the 28th St. bridge (over Highway 83) in Baltimore. It's an example of Complete Streets infrastructure that allows bikers, walkers and people using wheelchairs or other mobility devices to safely travel alongside cars. Credit: Side A Photography

The answer to “Who controls transportation funding in Maryland” reflects decades of decisions straining to keep up with a system in flux. Does the dollar disbursement need an overhaul? If so, how?

We ask Baltimore Metropolitan Council senior transportation planner Don Halligan and executive director Mike Kelly. They give an overview of a new report that offers alternatives to the current distribution of power in making choices about transit funds and operations. Mike Kelly:

“We’re a unique system in that the mayor of Baltimore City and the county executives from the jurisdictions served by our core transit network don’t have a seat at the table for any decision.”

Plus Morgan State University Prof. Celeste Chavis and Jed Weeks, Policy Director at Bikemore, talk about a new data collection program that will measure how people and vehicles use two busy street corridors in the city.

Links: Bikemore, Baltimore Regional Transportation Board, Transit Governance and Funding Review.

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'