Silver Spring Trails

Rose Canyon Bike Path – San Diego Photo by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy from “California Rails-with-Trails”

The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has announced in their RTC TrailBlog that they have completed a new report “California Rails-with-Trails”, now available as a resource for trail designers. The study examines the safety of 21 trails that share corridors with active rail lines. This study is the most recent of several studies of trails with rails, and adds yet more evidence trails that share a corridor with trains can have better safety than trails along or crossing roadways.

From the RTC study:

“The good news is that rails-with-trails have been shown to be just as safe as other trails. Every day, thousands of people across the United States safely use existing rails-with-trails. Fears that more trail users would be severely injured due to the proximity of moving trains have never been realized.”

and

“Rails-with-trails can be safer than trails next to roads. “In the last 15 years, more than 76,000 Americans have been killed while crossing or walking along a street in their community,” according to the 2009 Dangerous by Design report by Transportation for America and the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership. Trails separated from roads can provide a safer option. Even with an active rail line near the trail, the exposure from a track carrying ten to twenty trains per day is much less than a road carrying thousands of vehicles per day.”

Among the 21 trails surveyed in this most recent report:

1. One third had separation distance (distance from center of track to edge of trail) of 20 feet or less.
2. Over one half had train speeds of 40 mph or greater.
3. Over one half had train frequencies greater than 20 per day, and some had frequencies greater than 40 per day.
4. Four trails had no barrier between trail and rail.

The typical design section MTA presents for the Purple Line in the Georgetown Branch Corridor has an approx. 20 foot separation distance and has both a fence and/or retaining wall and a planted buffer as a barrier.

There are now over 200 trails alongside active railroads in the U.S. RTC has links to two earlier studies (one by RTC of 61 rails with trails, and another study by the U.S. Department of Transportation of over 20 rails with trails) at their Plan, Design, Build: rail-with-trail webpage. These earlier studies show very similar results as this new RTC study.

None of this and other overwhelming safety data is likely to stop “Save the Trail” advocates from continuing to assert that building the Purple Line alongside a trail is a dangerous, novel, untried idea. Indeed, much of the testimony presented to the Planning Board by Purple Line opponents at the Dec. 10 Purple Line Master Plan public hearing would have made you think that rail transit systems are only built in unpopulated areas because they are too dangerous to be in urban and suburban communities. It was especially ironic that several residents of the Town of Chevy Chase testified that children using the Lynn Drive path to school would be put at severe risk by the Purple Line, yet not one showed any awareness or concern about the existing risk children take on that same route when crossing East-West Highway, see Keeping the Children Safe.

My last post had several photos of Trees and Grass with trams. This post shows several photos of people with trams that Harry Sanders took during his recent trip.

A bike path at a tram station near Montpellier
courtesy Harry Sanders

A cyclist and pedestrians with a stroller cross
tram tracks in Nice – Courtesy Harry Sanders

A tram station adjacent to a cafe in Montpellier
Courtesy Harry Sanders

Cafe patrons appear unbothered by the tram only
a few feet away. Courtesy Harry Sanders

As the photos illustrate, it is very common for rail transit to operate safely in pedestrian environments with little separation from pedestrians and cyclists. Compare these examples of transit separation with that proposed by MTA for the Purple Line design along the Trail:

The Bethesda edition of the Gazette reports that the Town of Chevy Chase is opposing a proposed trail, at Chevy Chase says new bike path may be dangerous. The proposed new bike path is part of an alternative CCT trail route through Bethesda, between the east end of the Bethesda Tunnel and Woodmont Avenue. The trail would be an alternative, in addition to and NOT instead of the CCT through the Bethesda Tunnel. The alternative route would be mainly a sidepath trail along Willow Street and Bethesda Avenue, and would have a counterflow bike lane down 47th Street on the west side of the Elm Street Park.

The Town is refusing to allow the counterflow bike lane down 47th Street, the one section of the alternative trail route that the Town controls.

Looking south on 47th Street in Chevy Chase.

47th Street is one-way northbound, and a counterflow bike lane is needed to give cyclists a direct on-road route from the east end of the Bethesda Tunnel to Willow Street and Bethesda Avenue. No parking is permitted on this street, and the street is already wide enough to accommodate a 6 foot wide counter flow bike lane without the issues that trouble the proposed Cedar Street bike lane in Silver Spring. As the Gazette reports, the Town does not assert that this bike lane would be unsafe but rather the Town asserts the alternative trail route will be unsafe elsewhere, at the Wisconsin Avenue crosswalk. The Town cares too much for our safety to permit the trail to be built if it believes any part of it is unsafe. The Town is therefore obstructing the bike route where they have control – at 47th Street.

The Town claims that the Wisconsin Avenue crosswalk is unacceptably dangerous. The Town’s solution – don’t build the alternative trail. That will discourage people from using this crossing, and thereby keep people safe.

I’m having trouble buying it that the Wisconsin Avenue crosswalk is unacceptably dangerous. Whenever I’ve crossed there the traffic appeared to be relatively calm. It is a direct, well marked crosswalk with a generous median. There is turning traffic from vehicles turning north onto Wisconsin Avenue from Bethesda Avenue, but that is a sharp turn that slows the turning traffic, and the pedestrian activity in this area is heavy enough to draw the attention of motorists. As crosswalks go, I would rate each of the CCT crosswalks nearby at Little Falls Parkway, at Woodmont Avenue, and at Connecticut Avenue as much more dangerous.

If we accept the Town’s approach to keeping trail users safe by blocking the trail if it leads to a crosswalk that has any risk, then some interesting questions arise about how we solve safety problems on trails elsewhere. When you follow the Interim CCT through the Bethesda Tunnel you emerge at the west end of the tunnel at the Woodmont Avenue crosswalk, shown at right. This crosswalk is much more dangerous than the Wisconsin Avenue crosswalk. The intersection is not squared, and this creates an awkward and dangerous crosswalk pattern. In particular, vehicles turning north from westbound Bethesda Avenue have an easy turn that encourages speed. I have seen many near misses at this crossing.

If the Town of Chevy Chase is sincere in its belief that obstructing trails is the best way to keep us safe from risk at crosswalks, then why does the Town not urge us to close the Bethesda Tunnel? Closing the tunnel would keep thousands of would be trail users from using the risky Woodmont crosswalk every week. If the Town cares so much for our safety that they will block one trail, why do they not try to block both trails?

We need this proposed alternative trail route. The Bethesda Tunnel is closed at night. It must be closed from time to time for repairs or construction. The Town gave us an example of the need and acceptability of closing the tunnel for construction in 2007 when The Town acted (in partnership with the CCCT) to close the tunnel for several days for construction of a fence to block graffiti, see CCCT April 2007 news.

In addition to needing an alternative route for periods when the tunnel is closed, trail users need access to the streets of downtown Bethesda to go to destinations on or near near Wisconsin Avenue like the Women’s Farm Market, Starbucks, Papa Johns Pizza, etc. Trail users do not want to be blocked from using the local street network in and around Chevy Chase.

The Town position of obstructing the alternative trail does not appear to be consistent or logical – until you consider it as a piece of their campaign against the Purple Line. This is not about trail safety. This is about the Town creating ways to make the conflict between the CCT and the Purple Line as intense as possible, to generate opposition to the Purple Line. The blog Greater Greater Washington sized up the Town position moments after the Gazette article appeared, with the comment “Bike paths only good if they block trains?”.

The State of Maryland has recently installed new crosswalk markings and made a slight increase in the walk time for the Georgetown Branch Trail crossing of 16th Street.

Now do you feel safe crossing here?

A theme often expressed in webpages and letters from the “Save the Trail” folks is the Purple Line will cause the CCT to be unsafe. For example, RethinkingthePurpleLine asserts “If the proposed Purple Line is built, this section of the Trail will be reduced to a width of only 8 usable
 feet—dramatically increasing the likelihood of accidents between hikers and
 bikers.” Purple Line opponents also assert the CCT will be detoured around the Bethesda Tunnel onto a short detour on a sidepath trail through Bethesda, for an unsafe crossing of Bethesda Avenue. MTA disputes these claims, recently showing in a July 8 briefing that they will build a full width trail alongside the Purple Line throughout this area and that they will keep the trail in the tunnel.

One can question Purple Line opponents about their perspective when they raise trail safety as an issue:

1) Why do they remain silent about an 8′ effective width at the Country Club?

If you go east on the CCT from the Town of Chevy Chase, you immediately encounter the Country Club encroachment, with the fences and weeds cutting the effective width of the trail down to 8′. See the earlier post here on this issue. Yet the Purple Line opponents remain silent about this issue. Is effective width only important at the Town of Chevy Chase?

2) Why do they remain silent about the at grade crossing of Connecticut Avenue, and other at grade crossings east and west from Bethesda?

If you go east on the Trail past the Club, you immediately encounter the at grade crossing of busy Connecticut Avenue at a light. The photo at right, from silverspringtrails, shows this existing at grade crossing. Are grade separated trail crossings of busy roadways only important at Bethesda Avenue?

3) Why do they remain silent about the 1.6 mile CCT detour on streets in Silver Spring?

If you go beyond Rock Creek to downtown Silver Spring, you will be diverted onto a 1.6 mile long on road trail detour of the unfinished section of the CCT. You will encounter 6 more crossings of roadways at traffic lights (including two State highways), 10 roadway crossings at stop signs. This detour route map is shown in more detail at silverspringtrails. Are trail detours along local streets only unacceptible in Bethesda?

If the trail is rebuilt alongside the Purple Line as proposed by MTA, then the Trail will be off road all the way into downtown Silver Spring. Trail bridges or underpasses will provide grade separated crossings of all major roadways. The CCT will be an effective 10′ width from the Bethesda Tunnel continuous to Colesville Road. The rebuilt CCT will be far safer than is the existing Interim CCT.

This is a small picture vs. big picture issue.
The small picture shows the trail is safe now – at the Town of Chevy Chase.
The big picture shows trail safety will be greatly improved for all of us from Bethesda to Silver Spring if rebuilt alongside the Purple Line.

A bike trail should be designed to be safe. But it must also be perceived as safe if it is to be widely accepted.

One way to check a trail’s perceived safety is to apply the “Girl Scout Test”. I first heard of this test from M-NCPPC planners years ago when we were looking for the best future CCT alignment for the North and West Silver Spring Master Plan. The Girl Scout Test works like this: You are planning to take Girl Scouts on a bike ride. They have bike skills typical of pre-teens. They can ride in a straight line, keep right, and stop at stop signs without being told. But they are inexperienced and unpredictible around motor vehicle traffic. If you feel comfortable that a trail is safe for your Girl Scouts to bike on, then that trail passes the Girl Scout Test.

The Girl Scout Test helps to explain why the Georgetown Branch Trail is so little used in Silver Spring. Would you take your Girl Scouts on a trail that crosses a major highway like this?

Looking north along the Georgetown Branch Trail
at Second Avenue and 16th Street.

Finding a safe trail crossing of 16th Street is one of the major challenges for the future CCT. Crossing 16th shows how this will be done with the Purple Line transit/trail. Purple Line opponents need to explain how they would have their trail cross 16th Street if the Purple Line is not built. The existing at-grade Georgetown Branch Trail crossing at Second Avenue is unsafe.

Some Purple Line opponents appear to be applying a double standard regarding CCT highway crossings. Take Back Bethesda was recently posting in outrage when a developer proposed closing the Bethesda Tunnel during Woodmont East II project construction. The major objection was that the trail detour across Wisconsin Avenue would be far to dangerous for Bethesda’s children. The website makes full use of the Girl Scout Test, using pictures of children to drive home the idea that the trail must be safe for users of all ages.

The at-grade crossing of Wisconsin Avenue
on the alternate CCT route in Bethesda.
But some Purple Line opponents who protest that any at-grade trail crossing of Wisconsin Avenue is unacceptible also call for building the CCT on the Interim CCT alignment, which would have at-grade crossings of two state highways (16th Street and Colesville Road) and several other streets.

Now maybe it’s just me, but I can’t figure out how an at-grade trail crossing of Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda is NOT OK, but at-grade trail crossings of 16th Street and Colesville Road in Silver Spring are OK. Maybe the Girl Scouts can explain it to me.