Citizens Coordinating Committee on Friendship Heights, Inc.

Testimony on:   Analysis/Draft Environmental Impact Statement of  Purple Line, Transit Line

Date:     November 18,  2008

Thank you for this opportunity to testify.  My name is Ron Tripp, and I am speaking tonight on behalf of the Citizens Coordinating Committee on Friendship Heights.  The CCCFH is an umbrella organization representing 15 Civic associations south of downtown Bethesda.  Representing over 10 thousand households, our organization has been an advocate for more livable communities in our down county region for more than 35 years.

For the past twenty years we have also been supporters of the Capital Crescent Trail … from the time the right of way was purchased, through the wise decision to dedicate over half its length exclusively to trail use.  But, it’s been alarming to our communities to watch as the transitway has morphed from a single-track-trolley, connecting Bethesda with Silver Spring, to the massive 1.6 Billion dollar, sixteen mile, double tracked, multi-car-train proposed today.  Justification, once thought to be traffic relief, is now expressly stated in the DEIS to be economic development, specifically naming Bethesda and Connecticut Avenue at Chevy Chase Lake as development opportunities.

The DEIS ignores the effect excessive development has on the livability of our communities, including added congestion on Connecticut Ave, Rockville Pike/Wisconsin Ave, and River Road.  Since development is the justification, then the DEIS should include an expanded study of the direct and secondary impact of transit related development on the roadway network in and around Bethesda.

The DEIS also fails to address the huge impact the BRAC changes will have on our traffic.  N-I-H and The Naval Medical Center will generate over 34,000 jobs (nearly as many as in all of Bethesda, and equal to the jobs in Silver Spring); and over one million visits to the Medical Center are expected annually.  The County BRAC task force has called for a new entrance to the N-I-H Metro station on the east side of Wisconsin Avenue, which underscores the importance of public transportation there.  Nonetheless, the DEIS fails to use the Purple Line as a tool in addressing this challenge.  And, by tilting the studies in favor of the Bethesda Metro, the DEIS produces studies biased in favor of that connection.