Building upon the recently completed data set, the Maryland Freight Profile, MDOT is moving forward with the development of the Maryland Statewide Freight Plan. The Plan will provide a comprehensive overview of the State’s current and long-range freight planning activities and investments. A committee of internal (state and regional) stakeholders has been identified along with a panel of private sector advisors. Initial meetings with both groups have been held. A Freight Project Needs Inventory has been drafted and will be further developed as the study continues. The Plan will also include a component to address the continually increasing demand for overnight truck parking. The Plan is designed to emphasize clear, achievable capital planning and outputs that can be implemented within five-year and twenty-five year planning horizons. Outreach meetings to identify freight system deficiencies and to recommend solutions are now underway. These meetings are being held across the State and participation of both public and private stakeholders is encouraged. Follow the link to the right for a listing of times and locations convenient for you. The Maryland Statewide Freight Plan is scheduled to be completed by Winter 2008. In 2005, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) completed a $1.0 million study to investigate aging railroad tunnels in the Baltimore area. The scope of the study included an evaluation of alternate tunnel routes for both freight and passenger service from, to and through the Baltimore metropolitan area. The original appropriation to support this study was a result of efforts by Maryland Senators Paul S. Sarbanes and Barbara A. Mikulski following the events of the Howard Street Tunnel fire in 2001. To build on the initial work, MDOT is partnering again with the Federal Railraod Administration (FRA) to utilize a $3.0 million earmark included in SAFETEA-LU to continue studies on the Baltimore Rail Bottleneck. These additional funds would allow FRA to take their original alternates investigation to a more detailed planning level of engineering, to investigate additional alignments and to conduct a rigorous cost/benefit analysis and business plan for the project. This effort will soon be underway. The engineering portion of this study is projected to last approximately 18 months. | 
