May 27 Update:
Today the Montgomery County Council took a formal vote to give final approval to the FY 11 Operating Budget and FY11-16 CIP budget, see Press Release. The final approved CIP budget includes $12.1M to design Phase 1 and 2 of the MetBranch Trail, and to construct the Phase 1 section from the Silver Spring transit center to Georgia Ave., including a new trail bridge over Georgia Avenue.
The schedule in the CIP program description for the project shows three parts:
FY11-12: Complete final design
FY13-14: Negotiate agreements with property owners and acquire needed right-of-way
FY15-16: Build
Thank You! especially to District 5 Councilmember Valerie Ervin, and T&E Committee Members Roger Berliner, George Leventhal, and Nancy Floreen for inserting this funding into the CIP budget to “correct” for County Executive Leggett’s earlier omission.
May 20 Update:
The County Council tentatively approved the Operating Budget and CIP budget this afternoon. While there are many cuts in the Operating Budget, the CIP budget survived largely intact. The CIP budget relies on different funding sources than does the Operating Budget, such as long term bonds, so it is much slower to respond to a downturn in tax revenue.
The good news for advocates of the Metropolitan Branch Trail is that funding for design and construction of the Phase 1 appears to have survived the reconciliation process.
March 2, 2010:
Late Tuesday afternoon all three Montgomery County Council T&E Committee Members (Floreen, Leventhal and Berliner) voted to accept the recommendations of the Council Staff on the proposed CIP budget for the bikeways projects, including funding the design of the entire County MetBranch Trail section starting in the coming fiscal year, and land acquisition and construction of ‘phase 1′ including the bridge over Georgia Ave. The decision came late in the day so that Councilmember Valerie Ervin could attend the discussion. The staff recommendation is described more fully here.
MetBranch Trail at the Silver Spring Transit Center.
The Transit Center is on track for a June 2011 completion.
This is a big step forward for the MetBranch Trail. But the project still has to survive the “reconciliation” process between now and the final vote of the nine member Council in late May. That reconciliation process must pare down the budget recommendations from all of the Council committees until the total budget is within the allowable limit. Some worthy projects will be cut. Our advocacy to the Council must continue so this much improved MetBranch funding and schedule can survive this process.
Tags: Metropolitan Branch Trail, Silver Spring Transit Center