Governor Martin O’Malley announced that the locally preferred alternative (LPA) for the Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT) will be Maryland’s first Bus Rapid Transit system and will operate along a 15-mile north-south corridor from the Shady Grove Metrorail station to the COMSAT facility near Clarksburg. The next step is for the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) to submit the project to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) under its New Starts Program as the MTA prepares for the preliminary engineering phase of the project.
The preferred alternative will connect major employment, residential and activity centers in the corridor including Shady Grove, King Farm, Crown Farm, Life Sciences Center (LSC), Kentlands, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Metropolitan Grove, Germantown, and COMSAT. There will be direct connections to the Red Line at Shady Grove, the MARC Brunswick Line at Metropolitan Grove and local bus service throughout the corridor.
The CCT LPA will be a pedestrian-friendly system with 16 proposed stations that is expected to have 47,700 boardings a day by 2035. The CCT will operate at street level on a fully dedicated right-of-way with no shared use segments, allowing for fast and reliable transit operations. Parking will be available through existing and/or new Park and Rides at Shady Grove, Crown Farm, LSC West, Metropolitan Grove, Germantown, and COMSAT. The transitway is also being designed to accommodate a future hiker/biker trail.
