Save The Trail Petition

Testimony before the

COG Transportation Planning Board

May 20, 2009

Testimony of Veda Charrow, Ph.D.

My name is Veda Charrow, and I am a resident of the Town of Chevy Chase. My husband and I have lived in the town for more than 20 years, and have enjoyed its character as a quiet, green oasis close to a downtown Bethesda that has been getting more urban, more built up, and more crowded every year. 

I have been serving on the Maryland Parks and Planning citizens’ advisory committee regarding the Purple Line, and so am very familiar with the plans to run light rail along the Capital Crescent Trail and all of the arguments that the State of Maryland has advanced to support this outcome. 

First let me say that I live on Underwood Street in the Town of Chevy Chase, which is a fair distance from the Capital Crescent Trail, so I am not complaining that a Purple Line on the Trail would have a direct impact on my home.  My objections to light rail on the Trail are quite different.

I do not object to light rail in general.  I grew up with streetcars in Montreal and used them daily.  However, those streetcars ran only on heavily trafficked, commercial streets.  The proposed Purple Line, in contrast,  would run largely on park land and within residential areas, which is bizarre, to say the least.  (Ironically, the Montreal streetcars were replaced by buses, because rail service was so easily disrupted by bad weather, and could not be detoured in case of accidents or road blockages.)

I also do not object to joining the two ends of the Red Line.  To the contrary; it’s a good idea, and long overdue.  However, BRT on Jones Bridge Road would easily satisfy this need, and would be far more sensible, given the construction and expansion related to BRAC at the Naval Hospital, which will greatly increase the number of commuters to that area.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), or elevated rail above the Beltway, or any of a number of other possibilities (which have not been properly explored or which have been dismissed out of hand) would have the added advantage of not destroying the Georgetown Branch of the Trail, a priceless linear park that is used extensively for commuting, as well as recreation.  (Others can speak to this issue.)

What puzzles me about the State of Maryland’s insistence on running light rail on the Trail is that, according to the State’s own estimates, light rail on the Trail will not lessen the current traffic load on East-West Highway or other heavily trafficked east-west roads.  It will not divert current automobile drivers to public transportation.

Given these facts, it seems to me that running a Purple Line light rail system along the Capital Crescent Trail is a very bad idea.  It would be one of those decisions that, 20 years hence, residents of Montgomery County would look back at and say, “What the heck were we thinking?”