Friday, October 12, 2012
The MTA has designed a sidewalk to accompany the proposed Purple Line through the tunnel under Wisconsin Avenue, and county council members have suggested a county gas tax to help pay for the Purple Line.
If the Purple Line gets built, it could be accompanied by a 5- to 7-foot sidewalk in a tunnel under Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda Now reported. Maryland Transit Administration representatives presented designs for the proposed sidewalk to the Montgomery County Council's Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee earlier this week. "...[The] sidewalk would not be big enough for bikers to continue using the tunnel trail, but ... would allow bikers on the trail to walk their bikes to the trail connection on the other side of Wisconsin Avenue," MTA Purple Line Project Manager Mike Madden said, Bethesda Now reported. "Councilwoman Nancy Floreen (D-Garrett Park) praised the MTA for their efforts but asked the agency to …
Monday, June 18, 2012
It is possible to build a sidewalk alongside the Purple Line in the Wisconsin Avenue tunnel, but not both a sidewalk and a trail, "The Washington Examiner" reported.
State transit officials will likely be able to fit a 5-foot-wide sidewalk in a tunnel beneath Wisconsin Avenue alongside the planned Purple Line, The Washington Examiner reports. However, pedestrians using the Capital Crescent Trail would need to access the planned Purple Line platform in order to cross beneath the busy thoroughfare using the sidewalk, according to the report. County and state transportation officials have said that it would be expensive and risky to route both rail and trail through the Wisconsin Avenue tunnel when the planned 16-mile light rail line is built, pointing to a less expensive option that would route trail users across Wisconsin Avenue at street level. Some trail advocates, however, have argued that it would …
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Pedestrians would need to leave the tunnel through the planned Purple Line and Metrorail platforms, however, the Washington Examiner reports.
State transit officials will likely be able to fit a five-foot-wide sidewalk in a tunnel beneath Wisconsin Avenue alongside the planned Purple Line, the Washington Examiner reports. However, pedestrians using the Capital Crescent Trail would need to access the planned Purple Line platform in order to cross beneath the busy thoroughfare using the sidewalk, according to the report. County and state transportation officials have said that it would be expensive and risky to route both rail and trail through the Wisconsin Avenue tunnel when the planned 16-mile light rail line is built, pointing to a less expensive option that would route trail users across Wisconsin at street level. Some trail advocates, however, have argued that it would be …
Friday, March 2, 2012
County transportation director says more options should be explored before scrapping the idea to route Purple Line and Capital Crescent Trail through the tunnel.
Maryland National-Capital planning staff is supporting an option to route the Capital Crescent Trail at street level across Wisconsin Avenue when the Purple Line is built, but county transportation officials say another study is needed before they will scrap an option to squeeze both rail and trail into a tunnel beneath the busy thoroughfare. At a meeting of the Montgomery County Council’s transportation committee Thursday, local officials, leaders and transit groups weighed in on what’s becoming a contentious debate over whether the county should consider a costly measure to route the Capital Crescent trail through the tunnel along with a portion of the planned 16-mile light rail that will connect Bethesda and New Carrollton. Some …
Monday, February 27, 2012
MTA rejected two proposals that would shift the Bethesda Purple Line station east of Wisconsin Avenue to better accommodate both rail and trail in a tunnel there.
Two options to squeeze both the planned Purple Line and Capital Crescent Trail into a tunnel beneath Wisconsin Avenue are not feasible, the Maryland Transit Administration has ruled in a new analysis, the Washington Post reported. Both of the options MTA reviewed involve building the Bethesda station on the proposed 16-mile light rail east of Wisconsin Avenue to better accommodate both the metro and local residents who use the trail to walk and bike, the Post reports. But an option to build the station east of the tunnel would lead to extra trip time for riders transferring between Bethesda’s Red Line station and the Purple Line, and another option to expand the tunnel by tearing down and redeveloping an office building would be too costly…
Friday, November 18, 2011
Running both rail and trail through a tunnel under Wisconsin Avenue could be cost-prohibitive. The MTA is considering other options, including putting the Bethesda Purple Line station east of Wisconsin Avenue, near Chevy Chase's Elm Street Park.
In case the variety of options available for how to route both the Purple Line and the Capital Crescent Trail across (or under, or over) Wisconsin Avenue at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase border wasn’t broad enough already, a couple more options have been added to the mix. At a Montgomery County Planning Board meeting on Thursday, planning commissioners asked Maryland Transit Administration staff to consider building the Bethesda Purple Line station east of Wisconsin Avenue, rather than west of it or under it, as previous options had suggested. Right now, the Capital Crescent Trail, which follows an old CSX railroad right-of-way from Bethesda to Silver Spring, crosses Wisconsin Avenue underground, through a tunnel that passes (from west to east…
Friday, November 4, 2011
To include the Capital Crescent Trail with the Purple Line through a tunnel under Wisconsin Avenue at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase border would be more costly than re-routing the trail at the street level, but the street-level route could be more dangerous.
Members of the Montgomery County Planning Board met with staff members of the Maryland Transit Authority on Thursday morning to examine the tunnel that runs under Wisconsin Avenue at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase line. Currently, the route of the Capital Crescent Trail runs through the tunnel, and the Purple Line light rail (on which construction is slated to begin as early as 2015, according to the MTA) is planned to run through the tunnel. If the trail is to remain in the tunnel with the Purple Line, the trail will be reconstructed in a passageway that will run above the light rail, MTA staff members say. That could cost around 43 percent of $103 million, or around $40 million, The Washington Post has reported. Such a configuration will …
Malcom J
7:51 am on Monday, June 18, 2012
The tunnel is creepy! more ›