Commutes along Route 29 have long represented a “hellacious human experience” for Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich.

For more than a decade, elected leaders in Howard and Montgomery counties have laid the groundwork for a rapid bus along the north-south corridor in an effort to reduce traffic between the neighboring jurisdictions in Washington, D.C.’s periphery.

President Donald Trump perhaps raised the stakes this year when his administration ordered federal workers, many of whom live in Maryland, to return to in-office work. The policy has clogged the region’s interstates and crowded commuter trains.

So it was with great anticipation Tuesday that Elrich and Howard County Executive Calvin Ball announced a partnership to expand Montgomery‘s Flash bus rapid transit service along Route 29 in mid-2026.

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

“Today’s announcement takes our many years of planning and translates them into action,” Ball said at a news conference.

Howard will begin construction this fall on new Flash stations at Maple Lawn, Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Lab campus in Laurel, the Merriweather District and downtown Columbia, Ball said. The new stations lengthen the Flash network’s orange line like pearls on a string, connecting riders to activity and employment centers in the county. Buses will run every 30 minutes between Silver Spring and downtown Columbia during weekday morning and evening rush hours.

Howard County Council earlier this year allocated $3 million toward expanding Flash service into the jurisdiction. The money will be used to build the stations and acquire buses. Maryland’s congressional delegation also helped secure $4 million in federal funding to help expand the network.

Montgomery County bills Flash as a “high frequency service designed to get people to their destination faster, and less expensively, than by car.” An estimated 2,500 people ride Flash buses every day.

“We have a lot in common,” Elrich said of Montgomery and Howard counties. “Between the economic development and trying to make life more pleasant for people trying to get to work, I think we’re doing a great thing.”