Save The Trail Petition

Testimony : Purple Line Impact on Trail

Terri Lukas, Chevy Chase West

MTA Draft Environmental Impact Hearings, November 2008

Chevy Chase West Neighborhood Association

 November 18, 2008

Diane Ratclift

MTA Director of Planning

6 St. Paul Street, 9th fl.

Baltimore, MD 21202

Dear Ms. Ratclift/Hearing Officer:

I am writing this letter on behalf of Chevy Chase West Neighborhood Association (CCWNA), representing an unincorporated neighborhood of more than 400 households (bordering Bethesda on the north, Somerset on the south Wisconsin Ave. on the east and Little Falls Parkway on the west).

On behalf of CCWNA members who use mass transit regularly, I am urging the MTA to choose the Purple Line option that is the most efficient in terms of travel times, the least expensive in terms of fares, and the most environmentally sensitive in terms of impact on air quality and noise levels.   CCWNA also speaks for taxpayers and from their perspective, urges the MTA to choose a Purple Line option that costs the least to build and maintain, is the most efficient in terms of attracting people to use it instead of cars, and preserves and protects the quality of our environment.   If these factors are taken into account, CCWNA is sure that the MTA will reject any Purple Line option that involves putting light rail or rapid bus transit on the Georgetown Branch of the Capital Crescent Trail.  

CCWNA supports the community coalition of neighborhoods that calls itself “Rethinking the Purple Line”.  This coalition agrees with the independent reviews of MTA’s “Purple Line Alternatives Analysis/Draft Environmental Impact Statement” (AA/DEIS) that find MTA’s analyses to be deficient on all the important factors that should be determining the alternative of choice for the Purple Line.    Living as we do in a crowded metropolitan area, we want a Purple Line to be built.  But it is a false choice that MTA is presenting to citizens, i.e., between having a desirable Purple Line and a protected Georgetown Branch Trail.    We can and should have both, and the fact that our elected and appointed public officials are trying to convince us of the reverse is a betrayal of public trust in the governance of the County and State.  

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)  with dedicated lanes that connects directly to the expanding NIH campus from Silver Spring using existing roads, is the least costly Purple Line option to build, maintain and use and will carry the greatest number of riders.  It also promises to be a clean option because the County is replacing its bus fleet that runs on diesel fuel with one that uses natural gas.  It will avoid clear cutting 15 acres of mature trees that protect our streams, our air and our quality of life. 

Critically, BRT on existing roads avoids confiscating the Georgetown Branch of the Capital Crescent Trail that is used by thousands of citizens and visitors every year and has been growing in popularity ever since it was opened.   Cities all over the U.S. have spent tax dollars trying to build and maintain trails such as the Capital Crescent. It is shocking and disgraceful to think that our public officials are working in the opposite direction: to take a beautiful and popular trail away from users even in the face of our widespread opposition.   

November 18, 2008 (cont’d.)

CCWNA

CCWNA urges MTA and its elected local and state officials to rethink its previous assumptions about Purple Line options and respect what people are telling them about the importance of preserving the Capital Crescent Trail in its present form.  If this happens, we are sure that a Purple Line option will be selected that will serve our collective transportation needs well into the 21st century.        

Sincerely yours,

Terri Lukas

4703 Morgan Drive

Chevy Chase, MD 20815