Dorsey Commuter Rail Station and MD Route 100 Interchange

Client: Maryland Transit Administration

Location: Howard County, MD

Services: Transportation, structural, environmental, and mechanical and electrical engineering; landscape architecture

The Dorsey Commuter Rail Station, located one mile west of I-95 in Howard County, links Route 100 with MARC (Maryland Rail Commuter) trains, serving the Baltimore, MD-Washington, DC corridor. The project features an elegant, turn-of-the-century-styled station building and an 885-vehicle parking facility.

In cooperation with the Maryland State Highway Administration (MSHA) and the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), KCI Technologies began work on the intermodal facility in 1991, under an existing contract with MTA. At the time, KCI was in the process of designing a four-mile segment of Route 100, from I-95 to MD Route 713, which included interchanges at U.S. Route 1, relocated Race Road, and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. The Dorsey Station Project, situated adjacent to Route 100, afforded KCI the opportunity to coordinate the design of the two facilities, applying the project team’s unique understanding of the site’s engineering and environmental requirements. The concurrent scheduling enabled KCI to design an interchange providing exclusive access to the parking facility as well as a single stormwater management pond, which accommodated the needs of both projects.

In designing the rail station facility, KCI:

• Developed a Forest Conservation Plan that accommodated MTA’s need for an expansive parking facility, while protecting the forested wetland areas and two large specimen trees, located on the site
• Worked closely with the project architect on the 4,000-square-foot station building, which features an exposed steel-frame design, double-angle roof trusses, high bay area, clock tower, and canopy
• Widened the existing railroad embankment using gabion retaining walls to accommodate two 600-foot concrete train platforms.

The KCI project team completed the work on time, at a cost less than initial estimates.

Other KCI Companies

© KCI Holdings 1994-2006