Maryland Gov. Wes Moore isn’t an expert on transportation. That title falls to Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, who has balanced a career as a transportation engineer with politics. But Moore knows a thing or two about cheerleading. So, when it was time to announce the preferred mode for the Red Line, the east-west transit line through Baltimore, Moore went big. Last Friday, he assembled politicians, community and business leaders, and the media under a large tent in a Johns Hopkins Bayview parking lot to announce the 14-mile Red Line would be light rail. Given the public’s preference for rail over bus travel, it was the logical choice. It also provided some closure to Baltimoreans who were promised the light rail line two decades ago only to see the project halted in its tracks by then-Gov. Larry Hogan in 2015.

Yet for all the hoopla, including a new logo featuring the outline of a red trolley between “Red” and “Line,” there was also a tangible anxiety below the surface. And it boiled down to this: If the original Red Line could be canceled by a Republican governor indifferent to Baltimore’s transportation needs and looking to trim spending, could the revived version face a similar scenario at the hands of Donald Trump, who once famously called this city a “rat and rodent-infested mess”? Because choosing light rail is merely one step in a process that Moore estimates will take “three to four years,” that’s a real possibility and a scenario made all the more real by President Joe Biden’s lackluster debate performance that could very well send Trump back to the White House.

That doesn’t make the Red Line wrong; it just demonstrates, once again, how difficult a lift can be. And that, if nothing else, ought to make people in Maryland angry. The Red Line offers an opportunity to connect Baltimoreans, including many from low-income households in neglected neighborhoods who lack access to transportation, with good-paying jobs, health care, and better educational and cultural opportunities. As Moore told the crowd, a strong Maryland requires the state’s largest city to be strong, too. And, by the way, another major infrastructure project, the replacement of the Francis Scott Key Bridge located not far from Hopkins Bayview, is moving forward at an accelerated pace with Biden’s backing — as it should. Why must residents of this city have to wait 20 years (and counting) for their link to prosperity?

Make no mistake, not all the uncertainty is coming out of Washington, D.C. There’s some in Annapolis, too. Maryland’s Transportation Trust Fund is hardly in a position to cover the state’s share of the Red Line despite a recent increase in vehicle registration fees which went into effect on July 1. That fee hike was needed to avoid a projected $3 billion deficit. How might the state pay for its share, perhaps as much as 50% of the overall cost of a project that could run as high as $7.9 billion? That’s not so clear. Moore has said only that he expects fiscal discipline and to be cautious about new spending, taxes and fees.

Oh, and then there’s the matter of an exact route from Woodlawn to Bayview. How much of the track and overhead catenary wires will run on the surface, competing for space on thoroughfares with vehicle traffic, and how much will go underground? Given the financial uncertainties, probably much more of the former. Expect some drivers to be displeased by that. But getting more commuters out of their cars is a worthwhile undertaking if the region is to achieve its greenhouse gas emissions goals.

While all this may make last week’s ceremonies seem a bit premature, there’s something to be said for the governor’s commitment to the project. More than once, he told supporters he should be judged by whether he has fulfilled his promise to build the Red Line. Yet did he just put politics over pragmatism by backing a rail line that may prove too costly to be built under GOP leadership over the more do-able Bus Rapid Transit? BRT features high-quality buses and dedicated lanes, a system that operates similarly to light rail but can be built at a far lower cost. Baltimoreans will have to wait and see just how far the Red Line — and Moore’s accountability — can go.