People had nothing but love for the Purple Line at Saturday afternoon’s public hearing in Takoma Park. But how the mass-transit project might cruise Wayne Avenue left residents of that street sweating the details.
It was freakin' cold inside that gym.
While no route or ride (light rail versus bus rapid transit) has been selected yet, lots of talk has gone down over a street-level route along Wayne. The stretch would connect downtown Silver Spring with Long Branch as part of the 16-mile, Bethesda-to-New Carrollton trip.
Seven Oaks resident Erin Johansson, who lives on Wayne, told state transit reps and 200 other people huddled inside the cold Montgomery College gymnasium that she was ready for a light-rail system to roll down her block.
“When we moved here and heard about the light-rail line, we were really enthusiastic,” the expectant mother and former San Franciscan testified. “While we love living on Wayne and living in Silver Spring, a downside is the traffic on that street. The train would really calm traffic and make it a safer street to live on.”
However, others weren’t ready for that. Cathy Kristiansen, the Seven Oaks resident who started the “No Train on Wayne” yard-sign campaign, said the Purple Line should be tunneled beneath her neighborhood instead of rolled down its streets.
“No train on Wayne does not mean no mass transit,” Kristiansen testified. “But it’s imperative to do it right.”
According to Jonathan Jay, vice president of the Seven Oaks-Evanswood Citizens Association, a tunnel would allow the mass-transit project to bypass downtown ’s congested streets as it worms its way to Long Branch. However, the state transit administration previously said expensive underground stations were not in the plans.
And that wasn’t grooving for one neighbor. The woman (whose name I didn’t catch — my bad) testified that a tunnel would prevent the Purple Line from serving residents near Wayne and Dale Drive, as well as visitors to the Silver Spring International Middle School and adjacent Old Blair auditorium.
But Karen FitzGerald, a Wayne Avenue resident, said she didn’t need the vehicular traffic — on Wayne or anywhere else — that a street-level Purple Line might bring. “Traffic for the schools will be rerouted onto Dale,” she told state transit reps. “No study has been done to study the impact of such traffic on adjacent streets.”
While neighbors along Wayne debated where to put this thing, one Chevy Chase resident argued the project shouldn’t be built at all. In a letter to Washington Post editors published Saturday, Gary Repp said the project’s probable route along the Capital Crescent Trail would trash the hood’s suburban groove. The gravel-strewn trail runs past private homes as well as the Columbia Country Club’s golf course.
“We will lose the Capital Crescent Trail, the last refuge of nature’s forested beauty and tranquility in our neighborhood, now used by thousands,” Repp wrote. “Where will all the families with their strollers go?”
Instead, Repp recommended a light-rail line between New Carrollton and Silver Spring, with bus rapid transit to carry the load from Silver Spring to Bethesda.
State Del. Tom Hucker (D-District 20) didn’t wanna hear it. Silver Spring’s renters, minority communities and car-less masses “deserved first-class transit options”, and he didn’t want the project derailed by “well-connected golfers”, he said.
Even Stephan Brayman, mayor of College Park in Prince George’s County, felt it was time for Chevy Chase and the rest of MoCo to get its shit together. “This project has way too much social and environmental good for a golf course to get in the way,” he testified.
A probable route and ride will be selected next spring, according to the state transit administration.
Photos by J. Deseo/SSP
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It’s not about the golf course. It’s about rezoning, removal of current housing, trees, residents, small businesses. A Purple Line station is a big, fat bullseye: Yo! Floating zone up in the sky! Settle down here so houses, trees, small apt buildings can be bulldozed and replaced with High-End High-Rises. Developer profits! Pump that property tax base! Come on, Del. Hucker, how long do you think that precious stash of apts. where the working class now live will stay once “first-class” transit moved in? You probably voted for HB373/SB 204 – Maryland Transit Administration – Transit Oriented Development, which makes a half-mile from a station vulnerable to rezoning.
It’s a load of crap that the Capital Crescent Trail is the “last refuge of nature’s forested beauty and tanquility” in that part of Chevy Chase. Maybe Gary Repp should take a little trip over to Langley Park and he’ll see that his own front yard and neighborhood streets are incredibly forested and tranquil in comparison. Where will the families with the strollers go? Maybe they can use the sidewalks of their neighborhood like everyone else does…or maybe they can embrace that the Capital Crescent Trail in their neighborhood is nothing more than a gravel path. With the Purple Line, it would be the same state-of-the-art trail that Bethesda residents/bike commuters enjoy…and it would be finished all the way to Silver Spring and tie into the Met Branch Trail. This isn’t about just a light rail line, but multiple alternative methods of transportation.
From 11/12/08 Gazette (Takoma Pk)”Residents and business owners at a public hearing last week reiterated concerns that proposed redevelopment plans for the Takoma/Langley Crossroads would push out the majority of low-income residents in the area and eliminate specialty markets.
“The current plan would redevelop the low-income garden-style apartments on the Prince George’s County side of University Boulevard into mixed-use buildings with stores on the bottom floor and residential units higher up. The road would be widened to accommodate two new transit centers along with whatever form the Purple Line will take.”
Hey, Woodsider, at least the Langley Park folks have some trees now, and a roof over their heads. Most of Langley Pk is within a half-mile of that planned station, so it is vulnerable to rezoning/removal. Instead of building a railroad through these communities, improve the bus service. Everybody stays, everybody wins. Except the developers — who should head for those abandoned factory sites around the USA and redevelop them to produce useful things like solar panels.
The purple line belongs underground. Putting it above ground is short-sighted penny pinching. Wayne Avenue is already in gridlock practically all day long; an above ground train will only make matters worse. Beyond that, a training running through the neighborhood and the park will destroy whatever tranquility both areas enjoy. Who wants a damn train running through a park?
Putting the train below ground will serve the purpose of providing mass transportation while preserving the tranquility and beauty of the neighborhood. If practicality is the only consideration, then let’s pave the planet and be done with it.
Lovemyhood, I appreciate your advocacy for the “little guy” and for small-scale, local communities, which is in the best tradition of Jane Jacobs–but the Purple Line does not represent the second coming of the cross-Bronx expressway. We’ve learned a lot since the “urban renewal” projects of the 50s and 60s and I continue to believe that our local governments, especially Montgomery County which has a reputation for pioneering affordable housing policies, can marry transit-oriented development and affordable housing and business space around the proposed Purple Line stations.
I was at the hearing on Sunday and watched as virtually all of our local elected officials–Heather Mizeur, Tom Hucker, Nancy Navarro, Bruce Williams, Valerie Ervin and Jamie Raskin, all of whom are members of the progressive left—spoke in favor of the Purple Line, and many of their comments couched their support as matters of transportation equity and social justice. It was gratifying to hear such strong local support of transportation. Your objections to the Purple Line won’t stop the project, but I hope that they will remind county leaders to remember to address affordable housing issues as the project moves forward.
I’m all for the Purple Line being underground–in fact it should be Metro line that roughly parallels the Beltway completely. But that is not going to happen in our lifetime. There is no political or fiscal support for an underground line and it’s fantasy to think that if we just keep protesting and hoping for one that it will magically appear. What will happen is that nothing will get built (typical Maryland and MoCo) and we’ll continue talking and haggling for decades. That’s the reason we are in this mess now…no one wants anything in their backyards.
Woodsider, please remember that one of the routes MTA proposed would have TAKEN backyards. http://www.sstop.org/
The train would have run in a “cut-and-cover” tunnel through backyards between Silver Spring and Thayer Avenues. Several homes would have been taken as well. At first, it would have run along Phila. Ave. in Takoma Park, the city zapped that, citing damage to historic homes. Then MTA tried Sligo Ave., which would have destroyed homes and businesses. Even if the Purple Line were built, would Prince George’s County start running The Bus on weekends?http://www.co.pg.md.us/Government/AgencyIndex/DPW&T/Transit/thebus.asp
If rail transit naturally brought development, wouldn’t all the metro stops east of Anacostia be gentrified by now? And when did development ie. jobs, commerce, and vitality get such a bad name? I wonder what people in Ohio or Michigan would say if you told them you would build them a state of the art public transit system that would bring jobs and development to their area. The real culprit of sparce affordable housing is our antiquated zoning ordinances which segregate people into income ghettos by not allowing and incentivizing housing options such as Granny flats and apartments mixed in with homes etc. Besides, after this housing bubble my guess is there will be a lot more affordable housing, if any of us still have jobs!
Nothing but a gravel path that the country club that funds almost ALL of the opposition builds a giant prison fence around to keep out the lesser among us….
Thayer-D, Michigan and Ohio present many possibilities for light rail. Central Ohio, for example, is big and flat, with big, wide roads. Take a couple of lanes for the train – no homes or trees lost. Also, some of those auto plants around the region could be retooled for building buses.
Granny flats are an idea for big houses, of 2,000 sq feet or more. But not the small houses in East Silver Spring. This is a small-scale community. The income ghetto has far more to do with our insane reliance on property taxes for local gvt, and the USA’s regressive tax policy generally, along with the right-wing’s attack on all the policies that sustain the middle class. Tax capital gains & high incomes. Stop thinking of every patch of land under something small as a cow that can be milked for developer profits or property tax.
David,
The fact that all the “Progressive Left” politicians are lined up behind this mess makes me even more skeptical of it. This project has taken on a life of its own, and they are all smart enough politicians to realize that they can support and benefit professionally (with future election to a higher office thanks to developer cash in the campaign fund), or be run over by the train.
Thayer-D,
There’s a huge difference btwn Anacostia and Langley Park; I agree with you about antiquated zoning ordinances, but they benefit the current power structure and are unlikely to be repealed. One of the stated purposes of new transit projects is to encourage “smart growth,” which means knock down whatever is near transit stations and build high density, high profit condos. That doesn’t work in Anacostia, where the surrounding area is perceived as too dangerous, but it will in E Silver Spring and Langley Park.
I have really mixed feelings about the purple line, on one hand, being a silver spring resident, I love the project. I love the thought that someday, I won’t have to drive to CP or bethesda (I mean you can take the bus but it takes forever, which is why I don’t support the bus rapid transit options) And I really hate Chevy Chase and their whole “put the trains with the poor people, save us rich people!” attitude. Makes me want to build it just to spite them. “oh, where will people go with their strollers??” I dunno, they can slum it like the rest of us and go on the sidewalk. Or go over to rock creek park like I have to. Oh, the light rail will kill small, local businesses in bethesda/chevy chase? What about the small, local businesses in PG county? Screw them right, they are not of your ilk. Do they not realize how douchey that sounds? And anyone who talks about light rail trains being unsightly needs to see the Minneapolis/St Paul light rail line, its so clean and quiet, definitely a step up from our metro trains (although, I do understand that the MN system is less than 5 years old, as opposed to the DC metro system)
At the same time I realize the importance of preserving greenspace, and I didn’t know about the loss of low income housing in PG County. I definitely would prefer it to be underground, but that seems less and less likely with the cost prohibitions, and I mean, the metro is above ground in most of the areas the purple line would be connecting to (with the exception of course being bethesda, big surprise) so it seems to make sense that above ground would be feasible. Does anyone know if a cost benefit analysis was done in terms of the costs of mass transit vs. the cost of increased roads to meet the increased traffic?
Blair-er, MTA says up front that the Purple Line would not take cars off the road. Indeed, the justification is about reducing transit time. And they speak in glowing terms of the transit-dependent population in Langley Park. Yeah, those folks that would be fighting displacement from the minute this project were approved. Population growth also plays a key role in MTA’s justification. Of courese, the most troubled communities are the ones with the highest birth rates. But nooo — we cannot mention the notion of population stability. Capitalism is all about continual economic growth, which depends upon human population growth, and the Earth is going to keep getting bigger to accommodate it, right?
““We will lose the Capital Crescent Trail, the last refuge of nature’s forested beauty and tranquility in our neighborhood, now used by thousands,” Repp wrote. “Where will all the families with their strollers go?””
Hyperbole, anyone?
The Capital Crescent is hardly the last refuge of nature’s forest beauty and tranquility, for heaven’s sake.
Luvmyhood,
East Silver Spring it self was developed by a big bad developer who bought some farm land (on which undoubledly some cow was getting milked) as soon as the train track was built. So I don’t get your reasoning at all? Historically, affordable housing has been the result of greedy developers overbuilding, and then the marked contracting leaving some neighborhoods to lower income people (see Harlem and East Silver Spring). The fact that things change is just a matter of life, so as I see it it’s a matter of making the best out of the hand you’re dealt. As for Anacostia being too crime ridden versus Silver Spring, it’s all a matter of perspective. When I lived in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, the Palestinians where opening up bodegas left and right. I guess coming from the Gaza Strip, Brooklyn’s ghetto seemed like paradise.
Dam those gentrifying Palestinians and their work ethic!!!
The Capital Crescent Trail is a beautiful, linear park with a tree canopy. Maybe some of the people who live near it have “forested” backyards. But there are plenty of apartment dwellers who use the trail. I’ve only been on it a few times. But I’ve found it shady and wonderful even on a summer day when the sun blasts the sidewalk. That tree canopy would be destroyed by the Purple Line. Any trees that grew afterwards would be compromised by the ugly overhead wires required by the trains.
To propose a “light-rail line between New Carrollton and Silver Spring, with bus rapid transit to carry the load from Silver Spring to Bethesda” makes absolutely no sense. One of the biggest benefits of the purple line that I can see is the estimated 9-minute ride on the light rail from Silver Spring to Bethesda. I’m not sure in what context the MTA is stating that the Purple Line will not take cars off the road but this doesn’t sound right. I would absolutely take the Purple line to Bethesda instead of driving there. Don’t forget that Walter Reed will be moving to Bethesda Navel Medical in a few years. Driving through that area will be a nightmare. A light-rail option will definitely lessen the traffic. A bus-rapid transit option will do nothing but add more vehicles and pollution to our roads. Let’s build a light rail now!
The Purple Line was planned before the Walter Reed move was proposed. Bethesda people are worried that the rail option would do nothing to mitigate the traffic spurred by Walter Reed. That BRT option and route were an effort to address it.
The Purple Line is NOT about improving traffic, it is about land redevelopment.
If giving apartment dwellers access to the Capital Crescent Trail is your issue, than the Purple Line wins hands down.
The Purple Line will enable the Trail to be completed through Rosemary Hills and Woodside into downtown Silver Spring, which otherwise will not be possible because of CSXT’s refusal to negotiate a trail right-of-way without transit. When completed, the number of apartment dwellers who live near the Trail and have easy access (i.e. do not need to have a car to drive to Chevy Chase) will easily double.
As for the shade, trees along the side will continue to provide some shade, even when the canopy is opened at the center of the right-of-way. One only needs to visit the W&OD Trail in Virginia to see a trail that is very successful and crowded in the middle of summer, even though most of its length does not have a full tree canopy.
The trail will be paved, completed into downtown Silver Spring, and will have grade separated crossings of busy highways like Connecticut Ave., 16th Street, and Colesville Road. The Washington Area Bicyclist Association has endorsed the plans to rebuild the Trail along the Purple Line. The Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail has not endorsed, but also has not opposed and calls for the trail to be at least 12′ wide when rebuilt to address the heavier use they expect if rebuilt and completed. Clearly WABA and CCCT do not buy in to the “Save the Trail” talk coming out of Chevy Chase.
And don’t forget that the Purple Line plans include heavy landscaping, which can easily mean thousands of shade trees re-planted. Young trees planted along the trail will grow relatively quickly and provide shade in just a few years (compared to, say, a tree planted in the middle of an asphalt parking lot with limited root area and access to water).
Wayne & Woodsider, right now the Purple Line looks like fewer trees and more asphalt. About those separated grade crossings, and that heavy landscaping. In this budget climate, what if they are deemed “amenities” which come along later, if at all?
Furthermore, as rezoning hits areas around stations, trees will fall. Try walking from Ga & Colesville to the post office on Second Ave. The townhouse development is in a concrete canyon, surrounded by big, boxy hi-rises — with more and bigger buildings on the drawing board. The trees are in those little things that grow in grates and need replacement every few years. Yet, a “Smart Growth” group has a photo of that area on its Web site.
Here is a link to the DEIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement). There are lots of parts and hundreds of pages. It’s time for everyone who cares about this thing one way or another to hunker down and actually do the homework. That means read this stuff and write some well-researched comments to the actual decisionmakers.
http://www.purplelinemd.com/aadeis/aadeis-document
Build it! Build it underground (most of it anyhow), and build it soon!
To propose a “light-rail line between New Carrollton and Silver Spring, with bus rapid transit to carry the load from Silver Spring to Bethesda” makes absolutely no sense. One of the biggest benefits of the purple line that I can see is the estimated 9-minute ride on the light rail from Silver Spring to Bethesda. I’m not sure in what context the MTA is stating that the Purple Line will not take cars off the road but this doesn’t sound right. I would absolutely take the Purple line to Bethesda instead of driving there. Don’t forget that Walter Reed will be moving to Bethesda Navel Medical in a few years. Driving through that area will be a nightmare. A light-rail option will definitely lessen the traffic. A bus-rapid transit option will do nothing but add more vehicles and pollution to our roads. Let’s build a light rail now!
RE: HELL NO!!!!!!!!
Unless they Build it as a 90% Underground Light Rail or Heavy Rail Subway…..
There is no way that building a cheap trolley-like Light Rail along Already Busy Roads will CON Car Owners to Abandon their cars for a Cheap Mostly Unreliable Trolley-Like Light Rail………
Its Amazing how these Soo Called Tranist Advocates are Fighting for a Trolley Like Light Rail to be built between New Carollton and Bethesda but Northern Virginia is recieving Funds to Build a Multi-$Billion Heavy Rail Subway Line between DC and Loudon County which is 4 times the milage of the so-called purple line……….
Rich:
I would point out that the “Heavy Rail Subway Line” in Northern Virginia you are citing as a model is almost all on the surface, not in a tunnel. Efforts to tunnel a section of it at Tysons Corner were denied because even that short section of tunnel was found to be too costly.
Putting the Purple Line in tunnels for significant parts of its length is not a real choice, given the way the transportation projects are selected for funding by the federal government. You can argue for a 90% tunnel Purple Line as much as you like, but most of the rest of us will use our energy to debate the real choices we have.
No, Wayne, that planned WMATA Metrorail heavy-rail extension for Northern Va., known as the Dulles Rail project, would NOT on the surface! It would be elevated, like the Red Line near Rockville.
http://www.dullesmetro.com/ Furthermore, that site says some of it will be tunneled.
Metrorail has the Third Rail, where the electricity comes from. There is no intersection with streets; people would be electrocuted.
Overhead wires would supply the proposed Purple Line trolley with power.
By the way, new tunneling methods have come along since Metrorail was built. Engineers say it’s really not that expensive to tunnel, the big $ come from locating stations underground. This would mean fewer stations, therefore fewer rezoning opportunities. But the trains would run faster.
The last time I looked, the Red Line was only elevated in Rockville at the station, but ran on the surface at the surface level both north and south from the station.
Does anyone know how much of the Dulles Rail Project will be tunnel vs. at surface level vs. elevated? I’m pretty sure there is not much tunnel compared to at surface level.
“Engineers say it’s really not that expensive to tunnel…” compared to what?? While costs have come down, they are still high compared to building on the surface. MTA engineer removed stations from the plan when they estimated costs of tunneling under Wayne Avenue, and they still found it too expensive using current costs. See today’s local Gazette.
Thinking that tunneling is only slightly more expensive than building on the surface is wishful thinking.
Oops, I just found the answer to my own question, at the http://www.dullesmetro.com link provided by LuvMyHood. A full route map is shown at their station information page.
From their map, it appears that less than three miles will be in tunnel, about four miles will be elevated, and by far the majority will be at surface. As can be seen from the map, tunnels will be used very sparingly, mostly at Tysons and at the Dulles Airport where there are special constraints that make it necessary. I remain perplexed as to why LuvMyHood thinks the Dulles Metro plans somehow make his case that the Purple Line should be underground.
>>Engineers say it’s really not that expensive to tunnel, the big $ come from locating stations underground. This would mean fewer stations, therefore fewer rezoning opportunities. But the trains would run faster.<<
Exactly – and do we want to repeat the infamous Georgetown mistake of saying ‘no thanks’ to a metro stop? Where the tunneling is proposed are exactly the populations who most need this transportation option.
Please enable avatars for Penguin commenters–I have one for luvmyhood:
http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/4526/lovejoyhv4.jpg
Don’t need an avatar, and I should stay out of tunnels. On Metro, I prefer the tunnels — the ride is much smoother. When the elevated tracks slant near Union Station, and when the train anywhere sways in the wind, I get queasy.
Anyway, my original point is: maintaining and improving what we have should have been the starting point for this whole project. Think of the additional buses and bus shelters we could have had. Maybe NextBus would have worked right the first time. Maybe we could have tackled the wacky taxi mess — there are complications when taxis cross the DC border. Why don’t we have neighborhood taxis? Remember Silver Spring Taxi? Instead, the state wants to roll bulldozers through neighborhoods, parks, and the zoning code.
Ugh build the Purple Line already, light-rail or underground, I don’t care I’m ready to leave the car at home… And it’ll be a nice change (not to mention safer) to be able to ride back home rather than ride the bike on East-West highway from Bethesda to Silver Spring – I ride the bike to make an environmental statement btw not for cost savings.
LMH – Not sure where you are getting the stats about cars NOT being taken off the road but I can tell you if there was light-rail/underground stop on Wayne and Dale I would happily walk down there for the ride.
Give me a break about the Crescent Trail. Plant some trees when the job is completed. If anyone needs someone to start a blog for where to go rather than the CT lemme know. Not brain science.
Sing it Tdiddy. Looks like with Obama and Biden and some quick stimulus, we might get our wish.
Tdiddy, you can leave the car at home now, and take the bus. I urge you do do so, and enjoy the bus while your can. If the Purple Line hits, bus service will be cut back. MTA has said that all along. So has MoCo’s Park & Planning. But one planner’s “redundant” bus is another person’s just-right ride.
I’ve taken the bus LuvMyHood – I find between necessary transfers and time stops I can typically bike faster or just add up to 10 min and enjoy a workout.
That’s what I think folks who “poo-poo” the Purple Line don’t get. A bus system, compared to the alternatives, i.e. light rail or actual subway isn’t efficient – they still have to stop for cars/deal with traffic and let’s face most of us value my time. I spend enough of it at work as it is.
LMH – given the opportunity to ride a more “efficient” system I’m sure those bus riders will be standing in line behind me to ride the purple line. BTW curiosity strikes me and you seem to be pretty passionate about the whole thing – do you ride mass transit? Use alternatives to your car?
For that matter since environmental issues seem to be a concern as well for the folks protesting the Purple Line, what do you folks do to lower your carbon footprint? Or are you just arbitrarily being “green” by singling out the Purple Line.
Giv’em the business Tdiddy!
Tdiddy, I take transit most of the time, usually the bus. I do have a car, but I drive it only when really necessary. The Purple Line WOULD have to stop for cars, and other vehicles would have to stop for those long trains, as they would be mostly at-grade, which is planning-speak for “on the surface.” As a pedestrian, I find it pretty scary to walk through gridlocked crosswalks, such as Bonifant & Ga. during evening rush hour. A subway is underground, so it is out of traffic. The carbon footprint of the “light” rail Purple Line would be significant, as it would be powered by electricity, presumably from coal-fired plants. WMATA’s Trip Planner with its walking maps, and the new low-riding diesel-electric buses have really improved the bus system. I say let’s go with what works, and keep improving the bus system.
LuvMyHood,
“When the elevated tracks slant near Union Station, and when the train anywhere sways in the wind, I get queasy.”
“As a pedestrian, I find it pretty scary to walk through gridlocked crosswalks, such as Bonifant & Ga. during evening rush hour”
There are a lot of things that scare me too but we are talking about the greater good so buck up.
Also,”The Purple Line is NOT about improving traffic, it is about land redevelopment.” That is exactly right. People are moving to this area whether you like it or not, and they have to live somewhere. So according to you we should flatten out more precious farm land and put more cars driving through Silver Spring instead of increasing density on a rail line. People are going to make money one way or the other, again, it’s about the greater good. If Bus stops are so great, how come people aren’t willing to pay a premium to live near then the way they are for rail stops?
Editor’s note: Play nice. — JD (Dec 4, 2008)
Thayer-D, I did not say anyone should flatten farmland. People need to figure out more productive ways to make money than continually tearing up land.
I used to prefer rail, because of the queasiness factor. This is no joke. The slant-y and sway-y parts of Metrorail make my stomach churn. Buses used to make my stomach churn most of the way. But the new low-riders do not. So for many trips I prefer bus to Metrorail now.
I dunno LMH – I guess we respectfully disagree. I liked what I saw in Europe (re: lightrail) done correctly it is an expressway that doesn’t have to stop for as many lights/cars and would love to see that in my backyard.
To Thayer-Ds point if it brings in the urban density I’ll one happy camper. Bring it on indeed :)
Tdiddy, about that backyard, one of the earlier Purple Line routes would have been cut and cover under backyards. It would have been a shallow tunnel dug from the suface down between Silver Spring and Thayer Avenues. About 200 trees would have been destroyed, and several homes. Vibrations from that destruction and from the trains in the tunnel could have impacted more. The train would have exited the tunnel near East Silver Spring Elementary School.
“Light” rail belongs on big, wide streets. I could see taking a couple of lanes on a street like Colesville Road. Running a railroad literally through backyards and whacking a home here and there in the process is just plain crazy.
My immediate response is so? “For the greater good” (Hot Fuzz Movie) times have changed and needs are different, it makes NO sense to be frozen in the past.
If drilling requires removing homes – so be it, not like there isn’t a surplus of homes in the market now. As to removing trees, we can replant them and then some – why not plant some in your backyard anyways despite the Purple Line.
As to light rail – I’ve personally seen and ridden them in inner cities in Europe, many of them exist on small roads, heck I’ve even ridden trains in Asia butressing small cities – literally a stones throw away from the town.
Not doing anything/doing too little to accomodate current and more importantly growing future needs is, in your words, plain crazy. Additionally accomodating the needs of the few, the “several homes” necessaty is also ridiculous.