Maryland Transportation Planning Decisions Under Civil Rights Scrutiny

"On the last day of the Obama presidency, U.S. DOT announced it will investigate whether Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s unilateral decision to cancel the Baltimore Red Line light rail project violates federal civil rights law," reports Angie Schmitt.

Local chapters of the NAACP and the ACLU at the end of 2015 lodged a complaint over the decision to cancel the Red Line. "When the complaint was filed last December, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund said Hogan’s decision was part of a 'devastating history of transportation decisions that have disfavored African-American residents of Baltimore City,'" explains Schmitt to give context to the actions by the Obama Administration. The article references a similar case from Wisconsin, when the U.S. DOT forced former Governor Tommy Thompson to set aside funding for the Milwaukee Streetcar.

Patrick Sisson reports for Curbed that the U.S. DOT investigation will reach far beyond the Red Line example—to the entire state of Maryland's transportation planning decisions.