From the Post. As if we didn't see this coming:
- Tunneling the Purple Line underneath Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda.
- Using the Georgetown Branch Trail right-of-way between Bethesda and Silver Spring, widening the trail itself wherever possible.
- Retaining the station at Fenton and Bonifant streets and running trains down the center of Wayne Avenue in dedicated lanes east of Downtown Silver Spring, though they suggest studying a tunnel further.
- Eliminating a proposed station at Dale Drive and Wayne Avenue, adjacent to the old Blair High School. This is in response to overwhelming community opposition to the stop, though it would have a projected 1,400 daily boardings (warning! PDF file) - almost as much as the Lyttonsville and Fenton Street stations combined.
Read the Planning Board's decision in full here. They'll have a public hearing regarding their decision January 8; if you'd like to testify, you can sign up here starting tomorrow.
Montgomery County planners today endorsed building a light rail system along the proposed east-west Purple Line and recommended running the trains mostly above ground and next to the Capital Crescent Trail, a heavily used hiker-biker route . . . the recommendation is expected to be well received in Prince George's and eastern Montgomery County communities where residents say they need a better alternative to the current slow-moving bus system that is their only transit link to Silver Spring and Bethesda.More specifically, the Planning Board's recommendations include:
- Tunneling the Purple Line underneath Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda.
- Using the Georgetown Branch Trail right-of-way between Bethesda and Silver Spring, widening the trail itself wherever possible.
- Retaining the station at Fenton and Bonifant streets and running trains down the center of Wayne Avenue in dedicated lanes east of Downtown Silver Spring, though they suggest studying a tunnel further.
- Eliminating a proposed station at Dale Drive and Wayne Avenue, adjacent to the old Blair High School. This is in response to overwhelming community opposition to the stop, though it would have a projected 1,400 daily boardings (warning! PDF file) - almost as much as the Lyttonsville and Fenton Street stations combined.
Read the Planning Board's decision in full here. They'll have a public hearing regarding their decision January 8; if you'd like to testify, you can sign up here starting tomorrow.
2 comments:
>>Eliminating a proposed station at Dale Drive and Wayne Avenue, adjacent to the old Blair High School. This is in response to overwhelming community opposition to the stop, though it would have a projected 1,400 daily boardings<<
This is a shame that a few loud and repetitive folks got to dictate what others service will have or not have. I wish a real, valid survey of surrounding folks living and working in that quadrant (not just home owners, but also the basement apartment and room renters too) was taken.
If it came out overwhelmingly against a stop here, don't build it, but my hunch is there are many unheard voices who have been ill-served by this.
There are many people in the community who want a stop at Dale and Wayne. We feel that we were not accurately represented, and that it makes no sense to have the line go through our neighborhood without the benefits of a stop. We will be submitting a letter to that effect tomorrow.
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