Purple Line Presents Noise, Pedestrian Crossing Concerns in Chevy Chase

The Purple Line light rail, proposed to link Bethesda and New Carrollton, is planned to travel along an old CSX rail bed—along which the Capital Crescent Trail runs—which means it will be passing through a residential neighborhood in the Town of Chevy Chase and surrounding areas.

In response to resident concerns that the trains will be too noisy near homes, The Maryland Transit Administration is planning on constructing noise-reduction panels to shield the houses from rail noise.

"The current plan is to have a noise panel built from Elm Street Park to Jones Mill Road where houses back up to the track and where there is no retaining wall that would otherwise function as a noise wall," Maryland Transit Administration spokesperson Terry Owens told Patch.

"There will be no noise panels where there are no homes," Owens added.

Another concern of residents in the Town of Chevy Chase is that there currently is no pedestrian crossing across the Purple Line planned for Lynn Drive at Montgomery Avenue and East West Highway. Many students use a current path in that location to walk to and from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, The Gazette reported.

The Town of Chevy Chase is hiring a technical expert to help residents make sense of the Final Environmental Impact Study released earlier this month, The Gazette added.

>>>Read more about the Town of Chevy Chase's response to the Purple Line on The Gazette's website.

Submit comments on the Purple Line's Final Environmental Impact Statement by Oct. 21 via the online comment form, by sending an email to FEIS@purplelinemd.com (with "FEIS COMMENT" in the subject line), or by sending written comments to: FEIS Comment, Maryland Transit Administration, Transit Development and Delivery, 100 S. Charles Street, Tower Two, Suite 700, Baltimore, MD 21201.

>>>For a map of planned Purple Line stations and electric substations, see The Washington Post's website.