Anne Arundel County [MD] gets $17M […] for transportation improvements [to Odenton Station]

Anne Arundel County gets $17M from federal government for transportation improvements

Officials said $4 million will go toward building a parking garage at the station, which officials said will help grow ridership even more while boosting the economy and the environment in the process.

I’m surprised that no one has posted about this yet! A parking garage of any sort will be a tremendous new amenity for the station, and I very much hope that at least one part of one level of this garage is properly equipped for multi-day parking.

To be honest (from boots-on-the-ground experience) there's there things that need to happen:

• The new parking garage, three levels at least.
• Four tracks with a middle platform connected to the existing tunnel.
• A bridge for faster access to the garage.

Odenton was loaded already and really needed 4 tracks and the express platform. Now, if it got that and the garage (basically all of the above), reconstructing BWI station got easier.

it would be nice if bwi and odenton could be done at the same time, for economies of scale.
And also, they keep the existing tunnel, it's alot cheaper to maintain that, than 2 elevators and a bridge.

BWI would require Amtrak and MAA to get on board. But if you did Odenton first and went four wide to GROVE with that middle platform (the tunnel has enough room) then you can completely shut down BWI and have folks move to Odenton, plus have the BWI buses gun down 170 to get airport stop passengers. You may need to plunk down an Amshack somewhere for a good part of a year, though, and change the schedules so instead of BWI it's ODN.

Which would be fun to see, actually.

scratchyX1 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 19, 2023 8:17 am it would be nice if bwi and odenton could be done at the same time, for economies of scale.
And also, they keep the existing tunnel, it's alot cheaper to maintain that, than 2 elevators and a bridge.

The problem is that the tunnel is too narrow for two wheelchairs to pass side by side, and widening the tunnel would be more expensive than building a suitable overpass with associated elevator shafts. I would suspect that modern ADA regulations would prohibit a derogation for retaining the existing tunnel as the primary track crossing for passengers.

TheOneKEA wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 7:30 pm The problem is that the tunnel is too narrow for two wheelchairs to pass side by side, and widening the tunnel would be more expensive than building a suitable overpass with associated elevator shafts. I would suspect that modern ADA regulations would prohibit a derogation for retaining the existing tunnel as the primary track crossing for passengers.

You're right, and during rush-hours, the tunnel is essentially one-way. This is why I'm for adding the bridge along-side the tunnel.