Photo: From left: US Rep Donna Edwards (D-4), MoCo council member George Leventhal (D-At large) and Gov Martin O'Malley (D) kick it at Tuesday's Purple Line lovefest in New Carrollton. Courtesy of George Leventhal.
Maryland governor Martin O’Malley (D) threw his weight behind light rail for the Purple Line mass-transit project, calling it sleeker, narrower and more “pleasing to the eye,” The Washington Post reported Tuesday morning.
At a press conference in New Carrollton, O’Malley admitted his decision was ”the product of a consensus through disagreement,” The Post wrote. The 16-mile, Bethesda-to-New Carrollton ride got love from officials in Prince George’s County, where the project will roll through mostly underdeveloped land.
But it caught flack on the MoCo end, particularly from residents of Chevy Chase. Some of them argued that a route along the Capital Crescent Trail would wreck the serenity, destroy trees and break up golf games at the adjacent Columbia Country Club.
In East Silver Spring, residents there fought (and won) to keep an underground Purple Line from burrowing beneath their workman bungalows. And along Wayne Avenue, some pitched lawn signs against a street-level route. That ride would only create more automobile traffic, opponents said.
Ultimately, the Purple Line will roll the following route, according to the state transit administration:
Courtesy of Google Maps.
From west to east, it’ll first hook up with the Red Line Metro train at the Bethesda station. From there, it rolls at street level along the Capital Crescent Trail, then hangs southeast along the CSX rail tracks. By the time it hits the Silver Spring Transit Center at Colesville Road and Wayne Avenue, the Purple Line will be on an aerial structure. Commuters can hook up with the Red Line again at that station.
Once the Purple Line rolls out of the transit center, it’ll hit Bonifant Street west of Georgia Avenue at street level. From there, it’ll cruise down Bonifant, cut across the new library site at Fenton Street and Wayne Avenue, then roll east on Wayne along with automobile traffic. Translation: It will share lanes with cars.
Just east of Wayne and Manchester Road, the Purple Line goes under a thick hill and re-emerges at Arliss Street in the Long Branch area. From there, it’s a street-level ride in dedicated lanes through the University of Maryland, to the College Park Metro station. That’s where commuters can connect with the Green Line train.
Moving further east, the ride goes aerial along Kenilworth Avenue until it hits the New Carrollton terminus. Transfer there for the Orange Line Metro train or Amtrak and MARC rail to wherever.
While its route is well mapped out, the Purple Line isn’t a done deal. O’Malley and his crew must pitch for federal funding to the tune of $1.5 billion.
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In most of the USA, transit means buses. Just because the Washington area has one of the handful of heavy rail systems, real estate developers push for rail. Light rail can still have a very heavy impact, in terms of rezoning and displacement. If this thing even looks like it is going to roll, expect zoning lawyers and developers to descend upon communities along the route. According to a new state law, a half-mile from a transit stop is fair game for transit-oriented development. In other words, hi-priced hi-rise. Look out Silver Spring, Long Branch and Langley Park — whether you own or rent a house, apartment or business. Gird your loins for the battle to hang on to what you’ve got.
LuvMyHood, you talk about redevelopment in Long Branch and Langley Park being “high priced”, however Montgomery County has very strong interest in preserving “workforce” housing in any type of redevelopment. I guarantee you that as these areas are redeveloped (and they will be…giant surface parking lots and 2-3, story 50 year old garden apts are obsolete and a poor use of land), that MoCo will enact laws requiring and enticing developers to keep a significant portion of their projects at prices workforce residents can afford. It’s hot on their political radar and they are intent on making it so. Just because the purple line will bring redevelopment, it doesn’t mean that it is bad.
Woodsider, I see no giant parking lots in Long Branch or Langley Park. I do see some parking lots, and I do see some trees. Everybody cannot give up their car. And parking 100% of cars in garages just ain’t gonna work. As a pedestrian, there are few things I hate more than crossing a parking garage entry/exit.
Some of the buildings in Langley/Long Branchare 3 to 4 stories. The notion that something is obsolete because it is small scale, well, that is obsolete.
If you are itching for something to tear down, why don’t you go to a town that has whole blocks that are nearly abandoned? There are quite a few of those in this de-industrialized country of ours. The people who want to live in hi-rises are people who either travel a lot, or have lots of green space right nearby, like the ones on the edge of Sligo Creek Park. To live in a hi-rise surrounded by parking garage entrances and trees that are only in boxes is a real drag. People who don’t travel for work, and lack a green or sandy weekend escape spot, just ain’t gonna go for it.
So the train will roll on Wayne and not under it? This should be fun. I often drive my wife to the Metro in the morning, and we take Wayne. Two lanes on either side of the yellow line. It is not uncommon for that to dwindle to one lane because of stopped buses, or trucks making deliveries, or cars parked on the far left lane or, going back, the far right.
I do look forward to seeing how cars and trains will share one lane.
With the Purple Line rolling down Wayne — the same route you and your wife drive to get to the Metro station — might you and the missus be able to take the Purple Line to the Red Line, thus dodging the car traffic?
Jennifer,
That’s an interesting idea, depending on two factors: 1) where the purple line stops along Wayne, and 2) whether catching it at Wayne substantially shortens the time to get to Metro. I drive my wife only when she is running late (which is not uncommon, since she is my sweet little lazybones who can’t get out of bed), but if she were to walk to Wayne to wait and catch the train, and then put up with any other stops it might make, she might be better off just walking to Metro by cutting through Pershing to Georgia and down to the Metro, which takes 15 minutes.
We shall see
LMH,
First, there are acres and acres and acres of surface parking lots in Langley Crossroads and one very large on in front of the Giant grocery store in Long Branch. Huge surface parking lots are an environmental disaster, reflecting enormous amounts of heat and contributing to massive runnoff that includes oil, gasoline and other waste products from autos. This goes diretly into the water system unfiltered.
Why would you say “parking in garages ain’t gonna work”? Garages are vastly more efficient with the space and undisputably more green. Instead of 3 acres of runnoff from surface parking, you only get the runoff from the top floor (if uncovered).
The obsolescence of many of the existing developments doesn’t have anything to do with it’s size. It has everything to do with outdated and energy innefficient systems and a lack of higher density housing immediately adjacent to retail and public transit.
I think you are envisioning redeveloment only as high rises. Long Branch and Langley Crossroads can be made vastly more space efficient and environmentally sound with buildings 4-6 stories tall.
I meant the runoff goes into creeks & streams unfiltered…not our drinking water system.
The comments on the Post articles on this are depressing. If people who have no fakakta clue about the issues involved can be so passionate about the PL, I hold out little hope for a smooth process for its budget and construction.
Springvale Roader, I BELIEVE they had talked about widening Wayne, b/c there is public right of way some distance beyond the current curb. So it may remain two lanes in each direction plus purple line. Not entirely clear. Regardless, while it’s being built Wayne is sure to be a mess. Progress!
Chaz,
Oy, I would hate to live on Wayne Avenue.
SR
The Wayne route is bad, the plan to “cut & cover” between Thayer & Silver Spring Aves. was worse. If the Dale Drive station is planned, expect rezoning/redevelopment pressure.
Springvale Roader, I presume y’all could catch a bus now. One point made repeatedly by the civil servants in PL meetings is that bus service will be cut back, ’cause that is SOP when rail is built. I would expect cutbacks on buses that serve Wayne, along with Metrobus F4, F6 to New Carrollton, and RideOn’s 16 & 17. They might even hack on the Metrobus C2 that runs between Wheaton & Greenbelt.
Editor’s note: The station at Dale Drive was axed earlier this year. — JD (Aug 5, 2009)
I may have overstated the amount of widening of Wayne–still, see p. 9 of a recent MTAMD report:
“All of the alternatives require some widening of the public right-of-way along Wayne Avenue. However, for much of Wayne Avenue the public right-of-way is actually quite wide, so the additional turn lanes for the Medium Investment alternative would not require much private property. However, the public is likely unaware that some of the property they consider as their front yard is actually public right-of-way.”
http://purplelinemd.com/images/stories/purpleline_documents/ESS%20White%20Paper%205-6-09.pdf
Doh, sorry for the bad line breaks, Penguin.
Editor’s note: No prob. Fixed it. — JD (Aug 5, 2009)
Chaz, based on some of the very bad sidewalk building I have seen around here, I think people may wind up losing more land and trees than they expected to.
I also wonder about having trains so close to their homes, it would be like having huge trucks rumbling by. Will foundations start to crack after a few months of this? I also wonder how the wires would impact the remaining trees, and whether they could affect the wiring along the street. By contrast, the new diesel/electric hybrid buses seem cleaner and quieter than old buses, and much nicer to ride.
Jennifer, MTA’s document said the Dale Drive station was “under study”, here’s a graf:
Dale Drive Station: Some local community members and elected officials asked that the Dale Drive Station be eliminated but the provision be made to add the station at a future date. Construction of the station at Dale Drive is to be further evaluated and possibly deferred.
http://www.purplelinemd.com/
Jennifer, that does sound wishy-washy, but not washing toward axdom.
I get the feeling that most of the support in the DC area is coming from people who actually think they’re getting Metro. Boy, are they in for a shock.
At best, the Purple Line will be a high-capacity limited service bus line operating moderately faster, but vastly slower than Metro. After a look at the LPA, I think this will be one of the most operational problematic and possibly dangerous LRT systems in the country. Any improvment in green house gas emissions will be negligable, I bet. The Balto. Red Line’s were, and it would make traffic worse. Gotta love the MTA.
Somehow people managed to use trolleys to great success along their streets for decades and decades earlier in the 20th and late in the 19th centuries. The only reason we don’t have many of them now is because the suburban car-centric culture took over, only to be replaced with the more urban, public-transit-centric culture now beginning to percolate and boil over.
There’s nothing different about it now, other than the fact that there are more cars on the road. See: Philadelphia’s Green Line (which I used, without getting run over, or without cars hitting the trolleys). In many European cities, these LRT systems run through public plaza, and somehow everyone manages to get around a lot easier! In fact, you can have grass growing between the tracks! See: Nice, France.
http://www.lightrailnow.org/images02/nic-lrt-openday-confetti-tram-grassy-ROW-Opera-Vieille-Ville-stn-20071124x_Metrazur.jpg
http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/public_consult/tmp/lrt/gallery/Nice596.jpg
http://www.fotothing.com/photos/c29/c292493df77c0ab1470667d3c9fa236b_18f.jpg
These systems are sleek, modern, efficient, comfortable, convenient, and SAFE. You won’t even be able to hear the difference between the cars and the streetcars.
Editor’s note: This comment was edited for content. — JD (Aug 12, 2009)
Thanks for posting those links, Eric. But there’s one thing I noticed about all the light-rail rides pictured: There are no overhead wires connected to the cars.
State transportation reps have said the Purple Line will rely on catenary lines for juice. Do the Canadian and European lines run on a different power source?