The Silver Spring Penguin

The Purple Line’s impact on Wayne Avenue might be worth another look, transportation experts with the county’s planning department suggested Monday.

In a report to the planning board, the experts recommended studying the impact of a street-level Purple Line on Wayne Avenue, versus one worming beneath it. Total ridership along the Bethesda-to New Carrollton route could increase by 2,100 with that tunnel, and without blowing the mass-transit project’s shot at scoring federal funds, the experts estimated.

That finding flipped the script on a report from the state transit administration, which didn’t dig deeper into the Wayne Avenue tunnel idea, and didn’t make an “apples to apples” comparison between tunneling and running the ride at street level, the experts claimed.

The state’s report proposed two flavors of transportation — bus rapid transit and light rail, each with three levels of investment (low, medium and high). None of those rides rolled beneath Wayne Avenue.

Despite the transportation experts’ holler for a street-versus-tunnel study, they still think a street-level ride is the way to go. Rolling on Wayne could skirt issues of a tunnel portal west of Sligo Creek. It also would keep a station at the planned library on Fenton and Bonifant Streets in Fenton Village, which could use the economic boost, the experts wrote.

If future Purple Line studies make a mess of the street-level route or downtown Silver Spring traffic, results of the proposed tunnel study could be an ace up the transit administration’s sleeve, the experts said. So what if the tunnel adds $175 million to the project, they argued.

The experts also showed some love for street-level routes through the downtown Silver Spring area. That’s because tunneling beneath the central business district would rule out a station at the planned library. However, the experts felt the Purple Line’s impact on Bonifant Street parking, as well as access to the Whole Foods Market parking lot on Wayne near Fenton, should be re-evaluated.

All but one of the state’s proposed routes through the central business district roll at street level between Georgia Avenue and Fenton Street. Only high-investment light rail rolls beneath the library, and doesn’t offer a stop there.

Photo of Sacramento’s light-rail line by Flickr user PaulKimo9.

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