Save The Trail Coalition

Testimony -- December 10, 2009

before the Montgomery County Planning Board

William Schulz -- Martin's Addition

First, let me say thanks for holding this public hearing.

My name is Bill Schulz and I live in Martin’s Additions. From 1994 to 2000 I served at the US Department of Transportation as deputy director, then director of public affairs. 

I know the three-mile east branch of the Capital Crescent Trail well; having biked it, hiked it and run it frequently during the 15 years I’ve lived in Montgomery County.

The plan for the Purple Line on this three-mile stretch of nature trail is simple enough. Destroy the trail as we know it today. Rip out 17 acres of woodlands. Double track what used to be a seldom-used single track 50 years ago.  Run high-voltage wires through what used to be a forest. And then run passenger rail cars at 35-50 miles per hour through it all on a system that’s incompatible with the Metro.

To justify its $1.7 billion cost, the supporters of this scheme have cooked the ridership books, wildly exaggerating how many people are expected to use this stub line.

Among the Purple Line’s biggest supporters is a development corporation for which the line will produce a huge windfall - but for the neighborhood will result in a congestion nightmare. The developer is banking on a zoning change the rail system will bring. Then, it will develop not just the quarter-million square feet of office and retail it believes it is entitled to right now, but much, much more. But the last thing we need is a mini-Tyson’s Corners where today the nature trail and Connecticut Avenue meet.   

In my six years at the Department of Transportation, I saw a lot of projects – airports, rail systems, multi-modal stations – that had clear and compelling public benefits. The Purple Line would hardly be among them. It just doesn’t measure up. In fact, I cannot recall seeing a single project in those six years anywhere in the US that destroyed such a much-used and enjoyed nature trail – or anything nearly of its value - for such a questionable purpose as this alignment of the Purple Line.

Thank you.

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