Tuesday, January 15, 2013
County Executive Isiah Leggett announced his proposed amendments to the six-year capital spending plan Tuesday.
The Bethesda South Metro Entrance and the Second District Police Station were both recommended for funding delays in County Executive Isiah Leggett's proposed amendments to the six-year capital spending plan, released Tuesday. The proposed plan “recognizes the vital need to control future debt and focuses on funding critical safety-related capital needs or projects that will boost the County’s recovering economy and spur job growth,” according to a county statement released to the media. New projects proposed in the $4.37 billion CIP include elementary school security systems, bridge repair projects, storm drain culvert replacements and the replacement of the remaining Champion buses in the Ride On bus fleet, which were taken out of …
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Station at Wisconsin and Elm Street will be built in conjunction with Red Line Metro south entrance.
Maryland Transit Administration officials on Tuesday unveiled new renderings for the Bethesda station on the Purple Line, a 16-mile light rail planned to connect Bethesda with New Carrollton. The new designs include a five to seven foot sidewalk alongside the light rail through the Wisconsin Avenue tunnel. The sidewalk option was developed after Montgomery County Council members determined it would be too expensive and too risky to route the Capital Crescent Trail above the light rail inside the tunnel. Instead, council members chose to support an option to route the trail at grade across Wisconsin Avenue. “I know it’s a disappointment to people but I think the sidewalk at least gives them an option,” said Mike Madden, MTA Purple Line …
Monday, December 17, 2012
Group meets with MTA officials Tuesday.
The Maryland Transit Administration is planning a Tuesday neighborhood work group focused on the planned Purple Line's Bethesda station. MTA officials will present current plans for the station and ask residents for their feedback. “The Purple Line team will present this information, but our hope is to have an informal setting that will allow for an open dialogue about the Bethesda station and the surrounding area,” wrote MTA in an announcement. Bethesda's Purple Line station is planned to be constructed in conjunction with a new south entrance to Bethesda's Red Line Metro station, MTA officials have said. The new entrance would add a total of six high-speed elevators between the street level at Wisconsin Avenue and Elm Street, the Red …
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Leggett warns move will detract from other transportation projects, including upcounty road improvements.
Against the urging of Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), the County Council wants to allocate more than $100 million for a popular downcounty trail and a new entrance to the Bethesda Metro station, and scale back or delay funding for several road projects upcounty. The council weighed in on transportation projects that should be included in the county’s capital spending plan for fiscal years 2013 to 2018 in a March 13 straw vote. The spending plan is slated to be finalized in May. But in a March 7 letter to Transportation Committee Chairman and Council President Roger Berliner (D-Dist. 1), Leggett wrote that earmarking funds for the two downcounty projects “would devastate many critical transportation projects necessary to …
Friday, March 9, 2012
Keeping both the planned Purple Line and Capital Crescent Trail underground too costly and risky, officials said.
A Montgomery County Council Transportation Committee Thursday recommended routing the Capital Crescent Trail at street level across Wisconsin Avenue when the planned Purple Line is built – rather than in a tunnel beneath the busy thoroughfare above the planned 16-mile light rail line. “We cannot at this time responsibly maintain the hiker and biker trail through the tunnel,” said committee chair and Council President Roger Berliner (D-Dist. 1.) “It’s just too risky and too costly.” The debate over whether the county should consider a $50 million measure to route the Capital Crescent trail through the tunnel along with a portion of the planned light rail line that will connect Bethesda and New Carrollton has become a contentious one. Some …
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board says new entrance will help Metro commuters avoid headaches.
The Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board is lending its support to funding for a new south entrance to the Bethesda Metro station. The advisory group voiced support for the project -- which would bring a total of six high-speed elevators between the street level at Wisconsin Avenue and Elm Street, the Red Line Metro station, and a planned Bethesda station on the Purple Line -- in a letter late last month to the Montgomery County Council weighing in on County Executive Isiah Leggett’s proposed capital budget. Leggett (D) recommended delaying construction funds for the project in his proposed spending plan, a move he said would allow for the project to coincide with Purple Line construction. With funding for the 16-mile light …
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Is this competition for real? What do you think?
Which is more urgently needed, the Bethesda Metro South entrance or a development project that would transform Wheaton's downtown? The two projects seem to be competing for attention (and millions) in the Montgomery County Capital Improvements Program. Or is this a false dichotomy? As many people have pointed out, all projects compete in the CIP budget for a limited amount of county funds. Still, these projects appear to be linked in many minds this past month. Reporting by the Washington Examiner indicates that the Bethesda Metro funds may trump redevelopment in Wheaton for at least two Montgomery Councy Council members: Two council members told Leggett "they would much prefer funding Bethesda and not fund the Wheaton project," the …
Steve O
3:28 pm on Thursday, January 3, 2013
Of course cyclists will ride through. Not when it's crowded with peds and transit riders, but late at night and Sunday mornings and anytime there is enough space to do so. Any officials who think otherwise are fooling themselves. The trail can be built (as promised) if more creative thinking is used. See my posts on this topic here: http://ht.ly/gwmCu more ›