The Capital Crescent Trail is keeping a high profile in the proposed Purple Line design, as is appropriate for the most heavily used trail in Montgomery County.
The Maryland Transit Administration has just released a brochure that describes their commitment to the CCT in the Purple Line project, see Capital Crescent Trail Fast Facts (a pdf file). The brochure presents little that has not been shown in Purple Line documents and at public meetings, but it is good to see all the key trail design features presented together in one document dedicated to the Trail.
The MTA also has just released a batch of illustrative drawings of the CCT at the Town of Chevy Chase.
the Town of Chevy Chase
(at MTA Purple Line SECTION 323+80)
The drawings apparently were prepared in response to a request from the Town of Chevy Chase. The Town has been pushing hard to convince decision makers that the trail should be on the south side of the Purple Line at their border. The MTA asserts that the trail should be on the north side for several reasons – a principal reason being that the terrain makes it easier to keep the trail higher than the transit in this area, which is important to a better trail experience when a trail is near rail.
I’ve gone over the issue of north side vs. south side extensively at “Flipping the CCT south”, showing why the CCT should be on the north side of transit in this area as MTA plans. The M-NCPPC planning staff and the Planning Board have recently reviewed this issue extensively and reached the same conclusion, see M-NCPPC staff: ‘north side is best’. But the Town of Chevy Chase refuses to let this issue go, and has asked for drawings showing representative profiles along their town border.
Overall, the illustrative landscaping drawings bolster the MTA position that the trail will be better on the north side. The links to the set of pdf files follow.
TCCplanview1
TCCplanview2
TCCsection314+50
TCCsection317+40
TCCsection320+40
TCCsection323+80
TCCsection327+50
TCCsection330+90
TCCsection332+40
The MTA drawings illustrate the profile with the trail on the north side. It can be seen why the terrain will make it difficult to keep the trail higher than the transit tracks if the trail is on the south side. The trail will be more naturally connected on the same level to the neighboring properties on the north side. If on the south side, the trail must be held high above adjacent properties by a retaining wall to keep a good elevation relative to the transit tracks. It is also shown by the drawings that the majority of residences in the Town are separated from the Purple Line by very deep back yards, so assertions that flipping the trail to the south side will make a big difference in the noise and vibration impacts on the Town’s residences are grossly overstated. For the several properties near East-West Highway that do not have deep back yards and that would be very near the Purple Line, the Riviera House multi-residence building is close on the opposite side so that switching sides to favor these several homes must be balanced against the negative impact on the much larger number of residents in the Riviera House.
I know the squeaky wheel will get the grease, but the Town has had more than it’s share of attention from the MTA. The section of the CCT between downtown Bethesda and Silver Spring to be completed with the Purple Line is about 4 and 1/2 miles long. The section that borders the Town is less than 1/2 mile long. The Town is not the only neighborhood stakeholder impacted by design decisions like ‘north vs. south side’. For example, the residences represented by the East Bethesda Citizen’s Association are equally impacted. That Association represents as many homes as does the Town of Chevy Chase, and opposes switching the trail to the south side. My own Woodside Civic Association would like to have more attention be paid to design decisions for completing the trail through our neighborhood into downtown Silver Spring. Trail users not from the adjacent neighborhoods are stakeholders too, and the number of trail users represented by organizations like CCCT and WABA dwarfs the 1200 residences the Town represents. The Town has every right to speak up for the narrow interests of its residents – that is its job. But it is time for MTA to move on, to devote more of its limited planning resources to the trail east of the Town, and to begin to meet with the other stakeholders.
Tags: Future CCT plan
Great analysis! You offer a very rational response to those who are calling for a trail on the south side of the tracks. I too have grown tired of the arguments of some of the folks in Chevy Chase regarding the Purple Line. I hope when construction does start they break ground in Chevy Chase first so we can have an end to the complaining.
Reading your blog makes me ever more hopeful that we will see the Purple Line and CCT running into Downtown Silver Spring. That day can’t come soon enough! Keep up the good work.