ROCKVILLE — Montgomery County officials are close to making up their minds about how the Purple Line mass-transit project will roll.
During a meeting of the county council’s transportation committee last Thursday, council members Nancy Floreen, George Leventhal and Roger Berliner (all Dems) gave much love to the project’s light-rail mode. If the full council votes on Tuesday to back the light-rail ride, they would join MoCo exec Ike Leggett and the county planning board on that trip.
“I’m looking forward to great joy in riding mass transit from Takoma Park to Rockville,” Leventhal (at large) quipped with his colleagues.
The transit project, which would connect Bethesda with New Carrollton through downtown Silver Spring, could have swung with a bus-rapid transit ride. Chevy Chase residents dig that option because they believe fewer trees will be destroyed along the Capital Crescent hiker/biker trail, which has been proposed as a possible light-rail route.
If a light-rail system ultimately is built, trees along the trail between Bethesda and Silver Spring will fall to make way for overhead power lines, reps for the state transit administration said.
“There’s no constituency more adversely impacted by the Purple Line light-rail alignment than those who use the trail, who live near the trail,” Berliner told transportation planners Thursday. “It’s a refuge from the daily struggle in an urban environment. It’s essential that we make the trail experience the best it can be.”
Still, Berliner said he favored a light-rail ride on the trail, as long as the path was widened to 16 feet where possible. MoCo exec Leggett told The Washington Post he was cool if the trail went out to 12 feet in width.
Committee members also said they’d keep the cost of pimping out the trail off the Purple Line’s tab. Tapping other funds, they said, would keep the Purple Line’s bottom line looking pretty when it competes for federal funding.
“For the first time ever, we’ll have a complete loop around Washington, DC, via a hiker/biker trail,” Leventhal beamed. “Without the Purple Line, we’d never be able to do this.”
As for downtown Silver Spring, committee members leaned towards cruising that ride down Bonifant Street, through the new Silver Spring library site at Fenton Street and Wayne Avenue, then on (not beneath) Wayne to the Long Branch area.
Still, legislative analyst Glenn Orlin convinced the committee to ask for a legit study of a possible Wayne Avenue tunnel. Rolling that light-rail ride underground could shave three minutes off the ride, Orlin said. It could also tack on $335 million to the price tag, he admitted.
And residents near the intersection of Wayne and Dale Drive will have to hoof it to either Mansfield Road or Cedar Street. Committee members, Leggett and the planning board agreed that a station at Dale Drive wasn’t going to happen.
Photo of Phoenix’s light-rail line courtesy of Flickr user Simax105.
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Berliner told transportation planners Thursday. “It’s a refuge from the daily struggle in an urban environment”
The only ones I’ve herd complaining about loosing the Trees from the Capital Crescent Trail are the residents of Chevy Chase and Bethesda, who’s tree lined neighborhoods would hardly qualify for needing to take refuge from. Besides, I believe they will be planting the heck out of the new trail.
Let’s remember that the campaign to “Save the Trail” is mostly funded and certainly lead by the Chevy Chase Country Club. Let’s also note that currently, that trail they want to save, is encased in 10 foot high prison-style fencses (i.e. – curved inward at the top so you can’t climb them) to keep out the undesireables that actually use the trail… Thanx CC Country Club, you just keep on “saving” that trail.
“Let’s remember that the campaign to “Save the Trail” is mostly funded and certainly lead by the Chevy Chase Country Club.”
Paul, what evidence do you have to support that charge?
Does anyone else find it confusing that “Save the Trail” groups have been saying the trail would be so unpleasant alongside the Purple Line that no one would want to use it, and now we see people saying the trail will be so crowded it needs to be 16 feet wide? The Citizens Coordinating Committee for Friendship Heights called for a 16′ wide trail in their testimony at the November Purple Line public hearings. The East Bethesda Citizens Association has sent a letter to MTA demanding that the trail be 16′ wide if the Purple Line is built. Both organizations oppose the Purple Line.
Since the Washington Area Bicyclist Association and the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail are only calling for a 12′ wide trail, the cynic in me says the call for a 16′ wide trail is meant to make trouble, and is not a constructive proposal. But one thing is sure, if the trail is finished into Silver Spring and paved when the Purple Line is built it will be used more than it is now.
Editor’s note: That’s an interesting take on the 16-foot-wide trail. Thanks for your comment. — JD (Jan 26, 2009)
The Purple line needs to be built in a tunnel through downtown Silver Spring. Putting it on the surface will mean a slower ride for Purple line users and worse traffic and less safety for drivers. We shouldn’t settle for a second-rate Purple Line to save a little money. The short term gain won’t be worth the long-term pain.
This project was born bad. It should have started with a genuine effort to improve the transit system we have, starting with the regular bus system. Instead, it started as a rail proposal and picked up rezoning pressure along the way. Remember, a group pushing the rail has long had major support from a real estate developer.
The zoning classification for “transit-oriented development” zoning is a floating zone, which means it can land in surprising places. If the Purple Line looks like it is going to happen, I expect zoning lawyers to knock on doors of vulnerable homeowners, with buyout/rezoning offers. This pressure will be deeply disruptive to Silver Spring and other communities the train would run through. And the disruption will start soon, well in advance of the next crackpot real estate boom.
Editor’s note: Thanks for your comment, LuvMyHood. Do you have supporting documents for your claim: “a group pushing the rail has long had major support from a real estate developer”? — JD (Jan 26, 2009)
Luv – One of the arguments made by the folks who favor bus rather than rail is that their bus route will cause more development than the light rail. Look at page 45 of the report written by their consultant, Sam Schwartz. You can find a link on the Town of Chevy Chase page of http://www.innerpurpleline.org.
Roader – Look at the “save the trail myth” and “money trail” pages of that same website.
I’m amazed at the claim that users of the trail are the most adversely affected. What about residents of Wayne Avenue and other residential streets nearby, if they build it at surface level? They will actually have to live with it every day, not just give up a recreation amenity.
Also, Woodside Bob – don’t forget the effect on safety for pedestrians. I was almost hit by someone sailing through a red light on Wayne the other day – it’s bad enough as it is without adding the congestion and frustration for drivers of competing with the streetcars.
wombat
Gotta look for the silver lining, those drivers on wayne may be less likely to run a red light if they risk getting broadsided by a trolley. Seriously though, done correctly an at grade trolley alignment together with other street-scape improvements can greatly improve pedestrian and driver safety on Wayne (in great part by slowing traffic to something close to the posted speed limit).
trider, I have lived in two different cities with light rail. The pedestrian experience on the street ranges from unpleasant to scary. I guarantee that I am not going to feel safer negotiating both automobiles and train cars on my neighborhood streets.
I think people should be honest that what they are proposing is to sacrifice certain neighborhoods for the greater good. That is what needs to be debated, instead of trying to convince nearby residents that it’s going to be fine and dandy.
wombat
Went to school at BU – green line trolley runs right through the middle of campus – and neither I nor anyone I knew had any trouble with it, and it sure was a convenient way to get around. Not even sure how the trolley could make the pedestrian experience unpleasant since the trolley runs in the middle of the street and the pedestrians that I know walk on the sidewalk and at intersections the trolley stops at the red light just like (most of) the automobile traffic.
Calling the pedestrian experience scary really doesn’t make sense and is the kind of hyperbole that the anti-PL crowd loves (kinda like “sacrificing” the neighborhood) and adds nothing useful to the discussion. I live in the neighborhood, two houses in from Wayne on a side street and I certainly don’t see my neighborhood as being sacrificed. I walk along Wayne (on side walks that are too narrow) to and from the metro stop every day and watch people speed and run lights, Wayne is terrible as is and if done right (i.e. with street scape improvements and traffic calming) the PL could be a great improvement.
IMHO pushing to have it done right is the way to go rather than spreading fear.
Editor’s note: Play nice. — JD (Jan 27, 2009)
Obviously I’m your evil twin, trider – also went to BU, also live two or three houses in from Wayne on a side street. But my perception of this is totally different from the same experience and we’re just going to have to agree to differ.
Which just goes to show that this is not a matter of fearmongering. It’s not that one side has the facts and the other side is making stuff up, whichever you think ‘the other side’ is. It is possible to possess exactly the same information and yet draw different conclusions and have different feelings about it.
The Purple line is going to be a boon to all communities located on it’s line. It will mean an easy way for working class people to get to their jobs on the red line with out going through downtown or suffering on traffic clogged streets in dirty buses. It will also encourage further development in sleepy inner beltway communities which will take away preasure to develope more farm land beyond the ex-urbs. For those who rightfully worry about the increased values pushing out lower income people, remember values always flucuate anyway, might as well get something done for the majority of people while the evil developers build their buildings. Also, the kids will dig it.
Cool – I’ve always wanted an evil twin. And, yeah, it’s pretty obvious that we’re not going to get a consensus opinion on the PL, not just wombat and I but the neighborhood as a whole. But the way I see it, odds are it’s going to happen and I’m afraid that if as a neighborhood we just keep saying no, no, no don’t let it happen, we end up not having an effective voice in the way it happens. I think Wayne as is is a terrible street, speeding, bad sidewalks, bad lighting. If we push for it, the PL on Wayne could be an opportunity to fix a lot of that. If we just keep saying no, I’m afraid they’ll throw us a couple bones, like killing the stop at Dale and “studying” a tunnel, and we’ll miss the chance to make some real improvements to the area.
Holy shit — evil twins!
Springvale – numerous washington post articles over the last 3 years, which I’m going to guess they got from public records. I don’t have time to go back and look, but there were a bunch of articles about this. Also, the country club sponsored numerous fundraisers for Erlich’s 2006 campaign to scratch his back for not supporting the purple line. And the fact that they treat the trail like a prison they have to keep the poor people in… well all you have to do is walk down the trail.. it’s downright claustrophobic.
http://www.innerpurpleline.org/trail_myth.htm With references to various news articles documenting the country club’s history of funding “Green” opposition to the trail.
Paul, obviously, the Purple Line advocates have a lot of $. There is much more to all this than the country club. I first heard about the PL coming through this area in 2000. The City of Takoma Park kept it off East-West Highway. Since Takoma Park is so crunchy, if this had been such a great thing, wouldn’t they have snapped it up? No. They nixed it because of damage to historic homes. That’s for the track. Remember, any station would lead to rezoning, and since transit-oriented development zones are floating zones, a rezoning effort could land in unexpected places. Well-maintained buses are not dirty. The right mix of express and regular buses stops the “clog.”
I’m not sure I follow the rezoning argument. If the rezoning is a possibility around stations and the only proposed stations in the vicinity are along University in Langley Park, at the new SS library and at the metro station – all areas that look to already be zoned for high density/commercial based on the exisitng development – then what is the feared rezoning problem exactly? Are there stations proposed that I’m not seeing on the map? Is the rezoning possible anywhere along the track not just at stations?
There are stations proposed for Wayne and Cedar (near Whole Foods), and for Wayne and Mansfield.
Transit development zones are “floating” zones, and can be proposed in unexpected places — but definitely within a half-mile of a station. And a half-mile is twice as large as the traditional quarter-mile. O’Malley signed a bill last year to that effect. His news release mentioned Prince George’s County, but the bill did not.
Long Branch and Langley Park have buildings that are just a few stories tall. Some of the buildings have a decent number of trees. I predict efforts to densify that zoning, demolish those buildings, chop the trees and erect “concrete canyon” style development, of the type near the Silver Spring Metro station. Dense, brick&concrete, and expensive. Existing renters will be displaced, new people will pay high rents to gaze out at other people running around in their living rooms in their baggy sweats.
To my former SS Comrades (Decamped to the uncrowded, low tax Mtn West last year after a lifetime in MoCo), I feel for you living with the construction phase (I can only imagine), ongoing operation, and expense of this boondoggle.
I am no opponent of public transportation or big government projects. The real solution here was to spend big on an underground Metro line that will serve residents for generations (eg, NYC subway) and be looked upon decades hence as a reasonable investment. Light rail is a proven crappy investment (look at the disappointing results of scores of these projects across the US) that will not integrate well with Metro and will never meet the ridership estimates.
Not to get too too far off topic here… but the country and regions population is growing. If urban areas such as ours are not permitted to grow upward then the alternative is outward suburban sprawl which we’ve been doing to the peril of the enviroment, an increased dependency on oil, etc.. etc.. for 3 decades plus now. Saving trees in urban areas and preventing them from reaching efficient densities is actually HARMFUL to the environment in that it drives flat suburban sprawl instead, as has been WELL proven over decades of urban flight and is only now beginning to reverse due to getting a swift kick in the rear end by the backlash of 3 decades of cheap oil.
Relevant article – in any case I’m doing my happy dance and am cautiously optimistic that the Purple Line will be growing in the near future. Given the state of the economy (I’m a little leary at the sustainability of Downtown Silver Spring stores in the current climate, in their current state) any positive impact I would be hands down in favor for.
Editor’s note: Thanks for the link, Tdiddy! — JD (Jan 28, 2009)
I disagree with the whole premise of that Post article in which “some” experts contend that the PurpLine “May Revive Suburbs” a la Bethesda or Rosslyn and the Metro.
Those places already had the right conditions in place and Metro helped spark denser development. In just as many places if not more, Metro spurred nothing (Largo, New Carrolton, Cheverly, Greenbelt, etc…).
PG already has more Metro stations than MoCo (15 vs. 12 by my quick count)and far more than any Virginia jurisdiction. As these have failed to spur much of anything over decades of tremendous growth in this region, how do the Post’s unnamed experts believe that a few little street car stations will?
Last point, PurpLine proponents need to think about the logistics and aesthetics of this for a minute. The stations will be at intersections with some of these regions most congested and pedestrian un-friendly roads, such as University, New Hampshire, Riggs, Kenilworth, Adelphi. Presuming these stations will beside these roads or in the median, who other than those that have to is going to want to trudge along the narrow sidewalks beside these roads, across the driveways into scores of little stores and strip malls and then stand amidst the car, truck and bus traffic in the heat, cold, rain, darkness, etc… waiting for these street cars.
To take the Metro, one gets off the bus or parks and walks into a protected little pedestrian world. There is an atmosphere of relative safety and isolation from the outside world with its cars, trucks, crime, etc… Street cars may work will in dense urban areas where it is actually fun to be on the street, but no way its going to be at all appealing to any but those who have no alternative. I sure would never want to send my wife or kids out to walk around the corner of Riggs and University.
Hey kids, let’s go to a movie tonight in Silver Spring. OK, everybody hold hands while we cross Rt 1. Do those cars going right on red see us?
Baby steps. In Portland Oregon people where up in arms about the proposed trolley system, and now it’s synonymous with that city.
The infrastructure will be tailored to aleviate these very real concerns just as it was redesigned once the “Big three” (see Rodger Rabbit) pulled the trolleys out of most American cities, and the infrastructure was redesigned for cars.
And Portland is an urban area where light rail can work well. Connecting a bunch of low-density, center-less suburbs is never going to work. If you really want your average white collar worker from Riverdale to take public transportation to Bethesda you are going to have to offer Metro and a parking lot.
OutWest
Don’t know how long you’ve been gone, but I don’t think low-density, center-less suburbs is any longer an accurate description of the areas that the PL is serving. In fact, according to the google, population density in Silver Spring is almost twice that as in Portland OR.
I’m speaking of all the stops east of SS – most of the line’s 16 mile length. To get riders you need lots of people living within walking distance of the line and who will enjoy walking to it (ie, strolling through a welcoming urban space. Granted there are more in SS and Bethesda than the rest of the line, but that still pales in comparison with Portland. Also, in Portland you’ve got a line going to a major city center. Here its between suburbs. Simply not the same.
Mass Transit is not really meant to encourage more development (since it is built in current developed areas) and resolve traffic issues (Building a trolley along a busy street will not attract car owners to ride it or else Downtown Baltimore would be Car Free 24/7). If that were the case then why did Virginia approve soo much rapid Development in Western Fairfax County and Eastern Loudan County Well before Ground Breaking of their Multi-$Billion Silver Line Metro Subway to Leesburg. If i’m not mistaken Mass Transit is supposed to be the beneficial Alternative to driving cars but that didn’t stop alot of Virginians of causing a Major Fuss through Personnal Blogs and the Washington Post Blog Discussions Complaining about the Closing of ALL Major Highways from Virginia to DC except Metro Rail during Inauguration Day.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, that Mass Transit’s Major Beneficiary is for the People that don’t own cars.
Editor’s note: This comment was edited for readability. — JD (Jan 29, 2009)
Problem- Montgomery and PG Counties is not Portland. The Maryland/DC Suburbs have to share Population with DC and NOVA which makes us a High Tier Suburban Metro Region unlike Portland and Seattle. Comparing the Maryland/DC Suburbs to Portland is like Comparing Apples to Oranges just because they’re both are fruits doesn’t make them equally similar.
BTW- You could’ve used Baltimore as an example but then again it may not be a great one because when I travel along Howard Street (the Light-Trolley Corridor) in Downtown Baltimore, I see alot of People Driving their Cars up and down the street Dodging the the Light Rail as it snakes up and down the street. Since the Light Rail was built in Downtown Baltimore (I believe since 1992 or earlier) along Howard Street I have not seen any Renaissance of Major Development/Redevelopment of the Howard Street Light Rail/Trolley Corridor; it is still Plagued by early 1900’s Vintage Abandon Store Fronts, and Vacant Old 3-5 level Office Buildings.
Another problem; as the Old Saying goes: The Past (History) can only occur once, one can try to repeat the past but it will never be as accurate as it was in the past. So in translation you may want to believe (and everyone else to follow) that building a light Rail-trolley will get car owners to abandon their cars (alleviate auto-traffic) and ride light rail-trolleys but you fail to understand that we are a Metro Region that has already set a Higher Standard (since 1976) Definition of Rapid Transportation via High Speed Heavy Rail Subway and to downgrade Rapid Transportation to a Light Rail-Trolley (especially when a different part of the Metro Region (NOVA) is building a Modern High Speed Metro Rail Subway) that will not promise the ridership to be on the same level (or Higher) than riding a High Speed Metro Rail Subway.
If the County (PG and Montgomery) Planners have any sign of Intelligence they will do a Survey/Referendum asking Tax Payers which of the Rapid Transportation would better Satisfy the Maryland/DC Inner Suburban Region; an East-West Light Rail (for the most part will operate of along Surface Streets) or a Heavey Rail Subway(that will run Underground or Above Level Sky Bridge/El Train) and I can guarantee that most of the people will choose the High Speed Heavy Rail Subway over a Light Rail-Trolley.
Editor’s note: This comment was edited for readability. And For Christ’s Sake, Quit Using those Initial Caps! Seriously, Mark, where did you learn to type? — JD (Jan 29, 2009)
Mos. Def agree with heavy rail undergrd like NYC is best for all long term.