With the FBI moving, it’s time to plan a Green Line extension

With the news last week that the FBI headquarters is moving to Maryland, the state has a major reason to celebrate. It also has a major reason to make new plans.

The new headquarters, which will be built on a currently empty site adjacent to the Greenbelt Metro Station — the terminus of the Green Line — is expected to house 11,000 workers. They are moving from the J. Edgar Hoover building in central DC.

With that move comes an opportunity: It’s time to expedite a Green Line extension to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

A Green Line extension makes sense for WMATA and the region for a number of reasons. At least as far back as 2009, regional leaders were already talking about extending the line into Anne Arundel County, with Prince George’s officials endorsing a Green Line extension to Fort Meade as part of their master plan at that time.

While those plans have stalled, it’s time to dust them off and, more significantly, expand them, to reflect current realities.

Key among the recent changes: 1. The build out of the Silver Line , 2. The FBI move.

• First, the Silver Line: With its completion, Washington Dulles International Airport gets a direct Metro link into DC — something BWI currently lacks. (A MARC/Amtrak station provides some access, but connections are sporadic, and the station is located a long distance from BWI’s main terminal, souring many travelers on the idea of taking the train to DC.)

• Next, the FBI move: While an airport link might not have made sense before the announcement of this move, it’s now a much more viable idea, as those 11,000 workers, who were previously a 20-minute ride from National Airport on the WMATA Yellow Line, will now have to slog on the train for 51 minutes to get to that same point of departure. It only makes sense that they should have a frequent and reliable transit connection to the nearest large airport. In this case, that’s going to be BWI, not National.

In addition to offering quick access from DC to Maryland’s largest airport, undertaken by WMATA, an agency that’s not solely funded by Maryland taxpayers — a pitch any Maryland governor would be well-advised to get behind — an extension would lay the foundation for a possible branch of the Green Line into Columbia, a community of more than 100,000 people currently unserved by rail transit of any sort. With Metro going to BWI, a case for a Columbia branch would be much more easily made in the future.

There are alternatives, of course: Relocating at least two MARC stations and increasing MARC frequency might be a viable option. But with a Green Line extension already on the books, there’s a significant argument to be made for bringing existing plans closer to fruition as quickly as possible. Additionally, a Metro extension has the benefit of bringing in one-ticket ridership from a larger existing web of Metro lines than MARC has access to, which could be a selling point for county leaders when pitching ideas for transit-oriented developments. Network effects are real.

In any case, a Green Line extension — whether ultimately approved or rejected — should be at the top of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s mind right now. It’s certainly at the top of mine.