State transportation planners survey form and route of the Bi-County Transitway

Bethesda-to-New Carrollton link could take form of a light-rail line or an express busway; at least eight options are being studied

Thursday, July 6, 2006

There isn’t much room between the CSX railway and residences and businesses on either side of the tracks in downtown Silver Spring. Another transit line next to the tracks would be a tight squeeze.

That’s one of several challenges state officials face in building the Bi-County Transitway, often called the Purple Line, which would link Bethesda and New Carrollton via light rail or bus rapid transit with the goal of increasing regional mobility and decreasing congestion.

By next spring, state officials expect to complete an analysis of several alternatives proposed for the rapid transit system, with the hope of beginning construction in 2010. And in that analysis, they have to consider environmental effect of alignments, cost and the fallout on surrounding communities, said Maryland Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan during a tour Wednesday of some of the project’s more challenging components: the CSX railway in the Lyttonsville neighborhood of Silver Spring, the CSX corridor near the Silver Spring Metro station and the area near the soon-to-be-built Takoma⁄Langley Park Transit Center. In those areas, 25 feet must separate the transitway from the CSX tracks, and planners have had to develop alternatives, such as raising the transitway over the tracks, that would preserve the community and be cost-effective.

During their analysis, state planners also have to consider Federal Transit Administration regulations in order to qualify for federal money, which is key to building the transitway, Flanagan said.

‘‘It is absolutely essential to moving forward with this project,” he said.

Guidelines say the project must show ridership, time saved for riders and the cost of the project compared to ridership estimates. The project could cost between $375 million and $1.6 billion depending on which configuration is selected.

The federal contribution to the project is expected to range between 50 percent and 60 percent of the total cost, Flanagan said. Cost-effectiveness will be key in receiving federal money, he said, because the transitway will be competing with other transit projects across the country.

Officials do not have a preference as to what mode the transitway should take, but Flanagan said bus rapid transit ‘‘may beat light rail in terms of cost effectiveness.”

Bus rapid transit is flexible; it could share lanes with cars or have a dedicated lane, he said. And as technology continues to improve, there could be several options as to the type of bus that would be used. Additionally, bus rapid transit could be built in increments; a light-rail system would have to be built all at once.

There are several alternatives under study, including a no-build option and an alternative that would manage and improve transportation without building the transitway.

The state is also looking at six build alternatives: Three focus on bus rapid transit and three focus on light rail. Some involve tunneling under neighborhoods. Others involve putting the transit line at grade in either dedicated or shared lanes, said Michael Madden, project manager.

All alignments would follow the Georgetown Branch Trail right of way and Jones Bridge Road in Bethesda to Silver Spring, where one of three alignments would connect the transitway to University Boulevard, where it would continue to New Carrollton via either Riverdale Road, Veterans Parkway or Annapolis Road, Madden said.

All options have their plusses and minuses. Focus groups have helped make planners aware of specific issues in their neighborhoods. In one east Silver Spring neighborhood, as well as in the neighborhoods near Riverdale Road and Veterans Parkway, some residents are concerned about what the transitway will mean to their homes and whether the state would have to take some of their property to accommodate it —all factors the state will consider in its analysis.

Construction of the project could take three to five years to complete depending on how the transitway is built.