'Science City' Plans Could Boost Light Rail

"The project would create a 20-million-square-foot network of urban villages near existing life sciences office parks west of Interstate 270.

Henry Kay, deputy administrator for planning and engineering for the Maryland Transit Administration, said the increased density from the science city would be "strongly beneficial . . . and makes all the alternatives -- light rail and bus rapid transit" feasible for a federal funding application. Without the added density, light rail would not qualify, he said, but bus rapid transit would. A detailed state report on the proposed ridership for the project, known as the Corridor Cities Transitway, is to be released next week."

The site is about four miles from the nearest Metro station, and planners are calling for the creation of public transit as an integral part of the proposed "science city".