Planners Want Better Purple Line Station, But Property Owner Seems Uninterested
County and state transportation planners want a downtown Bethesda office building torn down so they can build a better Purple Line station below it.
Problem is, they can’t get the owner of the building on the phone.
The Maryland Transit Administration plans to build the westernmost station of its 16-mile Purple Line light rail under the three-story Apex Building (7272 Wisconsin Ave.) in the existing Capital Crescent Trail tunnel that today provides easy crossing for cyclists and pedestrians under Wisconsin Avenue.
The Planning Department is hoping for a last-minute solution that would allow the MTA to include both a large section of Trail and the station in the tunnel. Without the demolition of the building above, planners say it will be too costly and risky to build both.
The station itself would have building columns blocking riders. A curved platform area, instead of a straight design planners say would be optimal, could mean gaps between the boarding area and the light rail cars.
But it’s unclear if the owner of the building is willing to demolish the building in exchange for tax incentives or upzoning. The property is managed by Potomac-based Vanguard Realty Group, for owners who apparently have it as part of a retirement package.
During a Thursday discussion of the property at the Planning Board, Purple Line project manager Michael Madden explained how those owners might be more reluctant to tear down their building than a traditional developer, even in exchange for incentives from the county that might pay off big in the long term.
“It’s not like there’s opposition to development. They use this as kind of a retirement fund. They have no incentive to do it,” Madden said. “They’re fine with what they are doing and they’re making money. That doesn’t mean that somebody couldn’t come in and make them an offer they can’t refuse.”
Leggett Asks MTA To Reconsider Cutting Walter Reed Commuter Bus
Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett wants the Maryland Transit Administration to reconsider its proposal to shut down a commuter bus that delivers people from Columbia, Burtonsville and Olney to the Walter Reed Military Medical Center Campus.
In a letter to MTA administrator Ralign Wells, Leggett said a 45 percent increase in personel at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center means the county and state must work to encourage greater use of mass transit in the area, not diminish it. He pointed to a traffic mitigation plan developed by the Montgomery County and Maryland Departments of Transportation that touted greater access to transit as one of its key elements.
In June, the MTA will hold public hearings on the proposed closure of ICC Commuter Bus No. 203, which an MTA spokesperson told us earlier this week is averaging fewer than 15 riders per trip. MTA had projected an average of about 20 riders per trip with that number growing to 30 riders per trip over a 24-month period.
Leggett asks the MTA to look at targeted outreach efforts or a redesign of services as a way to redeploy resources the agency says can be better used elsewhere:
Bethesda is one of the most significant employment hubs in Maryland, with traffic congestion that demands greater use of rapid transit alternatives rather than a reduction in service. With the passage of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) law in 2005 that established the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) in Bethesda, 3,600 personnel have relocated from the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. It is important to note that this 45 percent increase in personnel at Walter Reed-Bethesda took place directly across Rockville Pike from the National Institutes of Health which has approximately 18,000 personnel.
Collaborating with the Navy, NIH and the local community, the Maryland and Montgomery County Departments of Transportation worked together to devise a comprehensive traffic mitigation strategy that had three key elements to improve mobility and pedestrian safety near WRNMMC. Those elements included: projects to provide short-term operational improvements to nearby major intersections; long-term improvements to provide greater access to and promote greater use of transit; and improvements to pedestrian and bicycle facilities for safe, walkable communities near the medical center. The biggest project which is just about to get under way is the Multimodal Crossing Project at the Medical Center Metro Station, a project that will encourage greater use of bus and rail transit by creating new and safer entrances…
…I understand and appreciate MTA’s need to make better use of available resources. The County continues to need additional transit opportunities for its residents and to encourage more drivers to get out of their cars. There may be opportunities to attract more riders through schedule modification, targeted outreach efforts or a redesign of services. I encourage you to consider redeploying these resources, and I ask that you review and consider putting additional transit resources to the Bethesda BRAC and Shady Grove Life Sciences areas.
Montgomery County BRAC Implementation coordinator Phil Alperson said he will give the county’s view at a public hearing on June 6 in Gaithersburg. Ilaya Hopkins, a Bethesda civic activist and member of the Walter Reed BRAC Integration Committee, is expected to join him.
MTA is proposing to cut two other ICC Commuter bus routes.
Arlington County transportation planner and blogger Dan Malouff called the move a “classic bait and switch from highway builders,” who promise a multimodal road to build political support for a project before cutting those other modes later.
Flickr photo by thisisbossi
Bethesda BRAC Watchers Not Happy With State’s Plan For Commuter Bus
UPDATE 6:10 p.m. Some in Bethesda are unhappy with the Maryland Transit Administration’s recent proposal to shut down a commuter bus that delivers people from Columbia, Burtonsville and Olney to the Walter Reed Military Medical Center Campus.
The MTA has given notice of three public hearings in which it will propose to shut down three commuter buses that use the ICC because of low ridership. Bus No. 203 delivers people from the Route 29 and upper-Georgia Avenue corridors to Bethesda’s traffic-heavy section of Rockville Pike at the secure Walter Reed base.
Ilaya Hopkins, a civic activist and member of the Walter Reed BRAC Integration Committee, will testify against shutting down the commuter bus at a June 6 hearing in Gaithersburg. Bethesda residents involved in Walter Reed’s BRAC move to the Naval Military Medical Center have long been concerned with added traffic from a large increase in employees traveling to the base.
Phil Alperson, Montgomery County’s BRAC coordinator, said he will also testify against the route cuts. Members of the Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board agreed to oppose the discontinuation of the route at their meeting on Monday.
Arlington County transportation planner and blogger Dan Malouff called the move a “classic bait and switch from highway builders,” who promise a multimodal road to build political support for a project before cutting those other modes later.
“What we’ve done is simply make some proposals,” said MTA spokesperson Terry Owens. “But we’ve looked at ridership on some of the routes and they have not met expectations, thus the proposal is to consider scaling those back to reallocate those resources.”
If the MTA follows through on the proposals, the 203, 202 and 205 routes would be discontinued on August 1.
Owens said the MTA anticipated having an average of about 20 riders per trip with that number growing to 30 riders per trip over a 24-month period. The 203 route is averaging fewer than 15 riders per trip.
“It’s those kinds of numbers that have us taking a look at this and scheduling these public hearings,” Owens said. “We are talking to elected officials, stakeholders and others about our proposal. Certainly, we want input from a wide cross-section before we make any decision.”
Flickr photo by BeyondDC
MTA Would Like Decision On Apex Building By End Of The Year
The recently raised possibility of razing a downtown Bethesda building has given new life to the idea of an underground Capital Crescent Trail crossing of Wisconsin Avenue, but Montgomery County Planners will have to work fast.
The Maryland Transit Administration must know of any changes at the Apex Building, under which the agency plans to build its Bethesda Purple Line station, by the end of the year, project manager Mike Madden said. With new state transportation funding from the recently passed gas tax, MTA officials want to nail down matching federal funding next year and open the system in 2020.
At a Purple Line open house on Tuesday at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Madden said the MTA would like to know more about the fate of the Apex Building in the next couple months.
“That could change the station. But there would be requirements in terms of us knowing by a certain time if that building was going to be demolished,” Madden said. “If that does happen, then the station, the Trail could possibly go under that building. There could be some changes, but it all depends on timing on whether they decide to tear that building down.”
The MTA and Montgomery County previously determined that rebuilding the Trail under the building and next to the light rail station would be too costly.
The existing plan for the station, which MTA projects will be the busiest in the 16-mile system by 2040 with 15,000 daily boardings, also includes a fan tower that some have worried will be an eyesore near the high-end retail development of Bethesda Row.
In April, the County Council’s Planning Committee recommended the Apex Building Minor Master Plan Amendment be moved up in the Planning Department’s work plan as part of its FY14 budget. Interim Planning Department director Rose Krasnow said the decision to raze the building could mean huge public benefit with a Bethesda Purple Line station that includes an underground Trail crossing.
Council staff Glenn Orlin said razing the building would allow for $5 or $6 million in savings at the county’s Bethesda Metro South Entrance project, according to a conservative estimate from the state.
But the Planning Department’s study of the idea will have to be done in the shortest time frame ever for a Master Plan of such consequence, Krasnow said. Planners must also figure out the actual intentions of the owner of the Apex Building, listed in real estate records as Potomac-based Vanguard Realty Group.
The open house on Tuesday, the fourth of five along the light rail’s route, included satellite photos of the entire $2.2 billion system’s alignment, all the way from New Carrollton to Bethesda. The MTA’s noise consultant also presented a comparison of how the light rail will sound compared to other types of trains and vehicles, similar to the presentation MTA made in February to Town of Chevy Chase residents.
MTA Discusses Possible Bethesda Row Fan Tower
If the Purple Line light rail is built, the Bethesda station must include a 92-foot high fan tower that the Maryland Transit Administration is proposing for the open area near the Bethesda Row Cinema and Capital Crescent Trail tunnel.
The ventilation tower would be used in the case of a fire emergency inside the tunnel, where the Bethesda station would be built. MTA would build a second ventilation tower on the east side of the tunnel.
On Thursday, during a Purple Line briefing at the Montgomery County Planning Board, Planning Staff and MTA officials discussed options for making that fan tower compatible with the upscale retail that would surround it.
Staff and Purple Line project manager Mike Madden suggested a variety of tactics, architectural treatments including making it into a clock tower, a glass structure or incorporating it into the coming development around it.
“We do have a concept of what it could be,” Madden said.
Future development includes building higher at 7200 Woodmont Avenue and a Federal Realty project on the north side of the tunnel. The station, which MTA projects would be one of the 16-mile light rail system’s busiest with 15,000 daily riders, will include access and a connection to the Bethesda Metro platform at Elm Street and Wisconsin Avenue.
Renderings via Montgomery County Planning Department
Purple Line Officials Show Off Noise Mitigation Techniques In Town Of Chevy Chase
The Town of Chevy Chase will be the only section of the planned 16-mile Purple Line light rail that includes noise walls, a fact transportation planners emphasized on Wednesday in an attempt to quell noise concerns from residents.
It’s unclear if it worked.
After a roughly hour-long presentation that delved into the science of federal transportation noise requirements and included various soundbites of what a passing Purple Line train car might sound like, some at the meeting held in the Town of Chevy Chase’s Town Hall remained skeptical.
A few residents with houses backing up to or near where the Purple Line would run said readings of existing ambient noise levels (which provide a baseline for how much noise can be added via a train) were inaccurate. One asked Purple Line project manager Mike Madden if any more noise mitigation measures would be added, or if she should start looking at moving away.
Bethesda Talks Purple Line, But Funding Remains Uncertain
Maryland Transit Administration officials presented the latest designs for a Bethesda Purple Line station on Tuesday night, even as funding for the project is largely uncertain.
The 16-mile, east-to-west light rail that would connect Bethesda to Chevy Chase, Silver Spring and College Park has been in the planning stages since 2008.
Last night’s “neighborhood work group” meeting at Bethesda Elementary School was another step of that process. Residents saw MTA’s latest design ideas for the station, which would be at Elm Street and Wisconsin Avenue, and the light rail route that would be built on the Capital Crescent Trail.
Montgomery County would fund a partial rebuild of the Trail along sections of the light rail as well as a South Metro Station entrance that would connect the Purple Line station with the Metro station below via six high speed elevators.
The Purple Line is expected to cost $2.15 billion, which the state would like to split with the federal government. The Federal Transit Administration last year gave the state the go ahead to complete detailed engineering and design work.
County leaders organized a state transportation summit last week to discuss options (including raising the state gas tax and finding a private partner) for increasing transportation funding.
Another challenge to funding the Purple Line could come from other MTA projects. The Red Line, a light rail proposed for Baltimore that would connect the western suburbs to the downtown area and the Inner Harbor, was fast tracked for environmental review by the Federal Department of Transportation.
Last week, the MTA and FTA released the Red Line’s Final Environmental Impact Statement, a key document that, if approved, would allow for the final design process to begin.
Purple Line project manager Mike Madden said the Red Line’s progress on its Environmental Impact Statement does not put it ahead of the Purple Line for funding.
“It did undergo an accelerated schedule for Federal review, the feds in fact did that. They reviewed the Red Line Final Environmental Impact Statement in what seemed like record time. So they’re ahead of our schedule right now by a few months. But they still are working on their preliminary engineering plans. Their plans are at the same level as our plans,” Madden said. “It had nothing to do with funding. Both the Red Line and Purple Line need funding for construction. We’re on level playing fields when it comes to funding.”
According to a schedule outlined last night, the MTA would hold an open house about the Purple Line in spring 2013. Publication and review of its Final Environmental Impact Statement would also come in spring 2013. The FTA’s Record of Decision (ROD) would come in summer 2013 which would allow for the beginning of final design plans and the start of construction in 2015.
The Bethesda station would be one of the busiest, according to MTA projections. There would be 15,000 daily users at Bethesda. Madden and his team also talked about recent accommodations that have been made to the Purple Line’s design in the Capital Crescent Trail tunnel that would allow for some room for pedestrians.
Most of the questions directed at MTA officials dealt with how the Trail would be affected, how homes along the light rail route would be affected, what security would be like on the system and what plans there are for a crossing for Town of Chevy Chase students walking to Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School.
The MTA will answer the questions on its website and provide its latest designs in the next few days.
