Photo: DC has big chunks of the Metropolitan Branch Trail done. Courtesy of DC department of transportation.
A bicycle and pedestrian trail from downtown Silver Spring to Union Station in The District should be included in the county’s capital improvement budget for road and building construction, Silver Spring’s transportation committee argued recently.
The 8-mile Metropolitan Branch Trail, which will run parallel to Metro’s Red Line route, has been in the pipe-dream stage since 2004. But the project has stalled because there ain’t no money in the pot, Gail Tait-Nouri, a planner with the county’s department of transportation, explained to the committee last month.
The trail’s path hasn’t even been designed yet, nor has the land needed to build the trail been bought, Tait-Nouri added. At Monday’s briefing on the topic before county council memberes, Wayne Christiansen, with the transportation department, said there were also plenty of physical barriers in the way.
First, the transportation department is sweating the Purple Line mass-transit project, which might intersect the trail. However, Christiansen expected the state transit administration to pick a Wayne Avenue route pretty damned soon, and that would divert the Purple Line away from the trail.
Then there’s Progress Place, a social-services center sandwiched between Georgia Avenue and the railroad tracks. That building doesn’t provide any wiggle room between it and the tracks, so the county would have to demolish it to build the trail.
That’s when council member George Leventhal (D-At large) slammed on the brakes. ”We have to weigh these priorities, but I wouldn’t put a hiker-biker trail ahead of a homeless shelter,” he said.
Chill, encouraged Gary Stith, deputy director of planning with the county’s department of general services. That building has to go anyway because it can’t contain the center’s services. Progress Place would remain in downtown Silver Spring if it comes down to moving, and its services will not be interrupted, Stith added.
Then there’s the matter of getting the Metropolitan Branch Trail around Georgia and Burlington Avenues in South Silver Spring. The best way to do that, said transportation guy Christiansen, is to build a bridge over Georgia and a tunnel beneath Burlington.
Those plans would ring up at between $17 million and $22 million, Glenn Orlin, with the county council’s staff, calculated. That price tag would eat up most of the $26 million cost projected last year.
If Silver Spring’s citizens advisory board manages to get the Metropolitan Branch Trail project onto the proposed capital improvements budget, it’ll be up to the county council to keep it there or cross it off the list. That decision goes down in the fall.
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The 3rd district police station building would be a good spot for Progress Place to relocate when the police station moves to White Oak.
The biggest barrier in the way is that there is no funding to do the detailed design. All of the physical barriers can be addressed. The cost to build can be spread out over many years if the construction is phased to do the northern end first.
Thinking the soon-to-be OLD S library is a great place to move Progress Place/Shepherd’s Table.
PS The Parade of Ponds tour is this weekend and ALL proceeds benefit Shepherd’s Table – come out for a great staycation and support this local community asset. Pass info at http://www.premierpond.com
The old police station building is a lot bigger than the old library. It would probably work a lot better for an enlarged Progress Place.
Interesting how easy it is for those who do not live near the 3rd District Police Station to suggest it as a good place to move Progress Place.
The County owns the police station and given the poor economic outlook for the County for years to come, I can’t see MoCo building a new facility for Progress Place. We should put the police station to good use. I know that the ESSCA nimbys want to put a park there to preserve their property values but I don’t see how the County cannot consider putting Progress Place there.
Not in your backyard, eh, Jerry?
I live near the third district police station on Sligo and would enjoy Progress Place there alot more that the Police Station, which generates police cars speeding down the street at 100 miles per hour all day and night.
I know its a little off topic, but the Purple Line really should have run on Sligo Ave, I don’t understand why it didn’t. The street is wider and sees alot less traffic, and half of the crap on the street in terms of businesses and apartments should be redeveloped. Yes, I’m looking at you shady 7-11 strip mall and shady Chicago Ave liquor store.
Kinda odd that it would displace a homeless shelter.. since the thing I notice every morning I’m on the redline is the small commune of homeless folks who pretty much live on the small section in DC that is completed beneath the NY AVE bridge (at least I think that’s NY AVE overhead there).. the bridge right before the NY AVE metro when you’re headed downtown….
The Purple Line process has been long and is still going on. There were may reasons to reject Sligo Ave., including its use by fire trucks.
Citizens are NOT seeking a park to “boost property values,” they are thinking of the thousands of residents that will be coming when the various condos planned for Fenton Village are built. Those people will desperately need park space.
There are more than enough parks within walking distance of the police station (Sligo Avenue Park, Jessup Blair Park, Nolte Park, Silver Spring Park, Takoma Park) not to mention Sligo Creek trail. We do not need more parks. We do, however, need a new place for Progress Place. There are only a few County-owned places in downtown Silver Spring that could be considered for relocation of Progress Place and the police station is one of them.
Where’s Sligo saying Shitty Place should be the new Progress Place?! I’m kidding, even homeless people have standards.