The Montgomery County Planning Board is tepidly pushing the rapid-bus option as the "wiser choice" for the Corridor Cities Transitway, but stopped short of eliminating light rail for the mass transit line that would run from the Shady Grove Metro station, west to Gaithersburg and north to the Comsat building near Clarksburg.

At a hearing Monday on the state's plans for Interstate 270 corridor, the board also backed an alternative for widening Interstate 270 that would add two "Express Toll Lanes" in both directions that would be free for transit vehicle and vehicles with three or more riders.

Those recommendations will go to a County Council subcommittee on Monday before heading for a full council review July 21. The council will then declare the county's preference for state leaders to consider in their final decisions this winter.

With an eye toward landing federal funds to cover as much as half of the price tag, state projections show that the $449 million rapid-bus option meets the Federal Transit Administration's cost-effectiveness criteria, while the $777 million light rail falls well short.

Light rail advocates called on the board not to commit to the bus option until the state determines whether realigning the CCT through the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center will make light rail more attractive.

Light rail would carry 3,000 more daily riders and make the trip two minutes faster, according to the state's current projections, which do not factor in the realignment. Shifting into the Life Sciences Center could magnify light rail's advantage and bear more potential for transit-oriented development around stations, the advocates said.

"Now is not the time to throw in the towel on light rail," said Marilyn Balcombe, a member of the CCT Coalition and president and CEO of the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce.

Commissioners acknowledged the point, even though most doubted that the figures will improve much. Through much of the 90-minute hearing, they also complained of a lack of solid information and at one point considered not giving the County Council a recommendation.

Confident that rapid-bus lines function as well as light rail systems, Chairman Royce Hanson called for decisiveness — without ruling out light rail.

"Nothing to fear in this case except our outmoded ideas of what Bus Rapid Transit might look like," he said. "… If somebody comes in with stunning information that is clear and convincing, I'm happy to say, ‘I'll switch horses, put me on the train.' But in the meantime, I'd rather ride the bus."

As proposed in planners' version of the Gaithersburg West master plan, which the board is set to finalize on Thursday, construction of as much as 10 million square feet of research, office and retail space over the next few decades will help turn the 900-acre into a live-work-play hub of biotech and applied research. The CCT's realignment through the Life Sciences Center would add three stations: next to Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, in a proposed 2,000-home community at Great Seneca Highway and Key West Avenue, and at the 107-acre Belward farm, where Johns Hopkins University wants to build the core research campus.

The extra mile would inflate costs and make the 30-plus-minute ride from Comsat to Shady Grove five or six minutes longer.

The county's early projections have not taken into account how many riders from the upcounty will be dissuaded by that extra time, said Rick Kiegel, the Maryland Transit Administration's project manager for the CCT. Building the extra mile will also cut into cost-effectiveness.

The CCT is part of the state's study of a 30-mile stretch of Interstate 270, from south of Interstate 370 to north of Frederick. Regardless of the CCT, traffic on I-270 will increase 20 percent by 2030, according to the study. Widening and adding toll lanes could cut that congestion by as much as 61 percent.

The planning board prioritized the CCT because the highway project will cost much more — as much as $3.9 billion compared to $449 million for the bus CCT — and take longer to complete.

Rather than the two "Express Toll Lanes" that would be added each direction under the state's version, the board is calling for HOV lanes to allow transit vehicles and car pools of three or more riders. The board wants the state to cap at six the number of lanes north of Route 121 and consider "reversible lanes" north of Route 121 to help keep construction impacts and costs at a minimum.

Because the toll lanes require dedicated access ramps, that alternative bodes poorly for a mile-long stretch of I-270 through Gaithersburg, where the widening could demolish hundreds of apartments and townhouses in Brighton West, Londonderry Apartments, Montgomery Manor and Fireside Condominiums.

State highway officials believe the displacements can be cut to a few dozen by building retaining walls, slowing speeds of the access ramps and narrowing the highway's shoulders. Russ Anderson, SHA's project manager for the 270 widening, said it will be 12 to18 months before the state finalizes those details.