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By Michelle Williams
An MTA study of alternatives for the Purple Line and the impact each option might pose is slated to be released in May. Environmental impact will also be included. Still to be determined, said Michael Madden, the study’s project manager at MTA, is what form the Purple Line would take. It could be light rail or a bus rapid transit line, he said. “Right now we’re evaluating what’s called bus rapid transit, which is basically a fancier, bigger bus that people can get on and off of a lot quicker than they can a regular bus,” Madden said. “We’re also evaluating light rail transit, or what’s basically what you would think of as your modern trolley line.” The administration is looking at a few options for each. The hope is to come up with a transit line that would provide optimal transportation improvements that would give the best travel times and ridership while keeping costs down, Madden said. Various options carry estimated price tags ranging from $450 million to $1.8 billion and an end-to-end peak period travel time range from 108 minutes to 46 minutes, Madden said. Connection points for travelers coming or going to Metro’s heavy rails would be at the Bethesda and Silver Spring stations on the Red Line, the College Park station on the Green Line and the New Carrollton Station on the Orange Line. The line would also directly connect to the Brunswick, Camden and Penn stations on the MARC commuter line as well as local and regional bus routes and major activity centers, such as downtown Silver Spring. But the path the transit would use to get to these stations is a key question. In Montgomery County, some residents say they don’t want the transit to run through their neighborhoods or destroy the natural environment. Pam Browning, 60, of Chevy Chase, said she doesn’t want the line to run along the Capital Crescent Trail in Chevy Chase. She's organized a petition drive against such an alignment. “There is time to plan a route that would provide better long-term transportation for the region and save our irreplaceable trees and trail,” Browning said. According to a 2006 Coaltion for the Capital Crescent Trail survey, the trail’s weekly use by walkers, cyclists and joggers is in the tens of thousands. Browning said that if the line is approved for the Capital Crescent Trail route, trail users will see catenary wires instead of tree canopy. In Prince George’s County, officials at the University of Maryland, College Park, are also at odds with the MTA. The MTA's preferred alignment is on Campus Drive, through the heart of campus. "We really [would be] changing the nature of the campus by cutting it in half with light rail," said Douglas Duncan, the university's vice president for administrative affairs. The alternative proposed by the university would run along Preinkert and Chapel drives, Duncan said. That alignment would skirt much of the pedestrian traffic and protect scientific equipment in the engineering, physics and chemistry buildings, he said. Scientists are concerned the electromagnetic field from a rail line could affect their work, he said. Vibrations might also cause problems. A tunnel for the line has been deemed too expensive, Madden said. Some members of the campus community say the university's proposed route isn't logical. "It’s not as logical as [the Campus Drive alignment] because it’s not near the activity nodes, and it does not reflect exisiting traffic patterns,” said Rob Goodspeed, a graduate student at the university and co-editor of a blog following development plans around the university. Goodspeed said the line should be on Campus Drive, along the heart of campus and its transportation corridor. Student Government Association President Andrew Friedson believes the dialogue has been constructive. "It's important to realize that in about nine months, we went from an alignment that wasn't going through campus at all to one that is better. I'd say we are in a very solid place right now in terms of where the discussion was and where it is today," he said. Although the SGA hasn't formally taken a position yet, Friedson said he supports a light rail system, preferably on Campus Drive. The project would also need Federal Transit Administration approval. The FTA would help fund the project. Earlier this month, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley announced that the state will give $100 million toward the design and engineering of the line. If the project is approved, then construction would begin, at the earliest, in 2012 and would take about three to five years to complete, Madden said. Maryland Newsline's Michelle Williams can be reached at mwilli30@umd.edu. |
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