A NIMBY lawsuit dressed up in environmental clothing (even the likely plaintiffs' expert is only suggesting "more scrutiny" rather than anything concrete) may gum up the Purple Line. It seems likely to fail, but also likely to drag the process out.
Maryland reached an agreement with the country club last year on the Purple Line that got them out of the way of the project. Washington Post: Purple Line route changed to spare part of Columbia Country Club golf course. Shifted the planned route of the tracks to minimize the disruption and will add several golf cart underpasses in return for the country club agreeing to drop all opposition to the line. MTA did a good job of handling the threat from the country club.Having formerly lived next to the right of way of the proposed transitway/Purple Line for over 20 years, starting in the late '80's, I've followed its twists and turns since that time. The NIMBYs in Chevy Chase have vehemently opposed the routing through their 'hood from the start, and have extremely deep pockets to fight in court. If they don't get their way, and get the PL moved out of their backyards and their cherished golf course at Chevy Chase Country Club, they will continue to find any excuse to stop and delay the PL. Their fight will go up the court system as slowly and as high as money can buy.
afigg, on 01 Aug 2014 - 12:12 AM, said:
The other major news for rail transit in the DC region this week is Maryland released the official bid solicitation for the design-build-operate contract for the Purple Line light rail project on Wednesday with the intent of awarding the contract by Spring 2015. The planned completion date is 2020, although I expect the odds are that the Purple Line start will slip to 2021 or 2022. Lawsuits and construction delays are almost certain to slow it down.
The Davy Crockett, on 30 Jul 2014 - 01 Aug 2014 - 05:12 AM, said:
That is good news about the Purple Line, though I have a "I'll believe it when I see it" attitude about it as well. I had forgotten about the agreement with the country club, but I seem to recall there have been concerns raised that the agreement could cripple expansion of the Purple Line to being completely double tracked. I know the purchase of the old B&O Georgetown Branch requires a recreational trail, and that could hamper double tracking as well, but without the line being completely double tracked, the concerns focused on capcity, running times, dealing with broken down trains blocking the line, and other operational issues I think are valid concerns. I did a brief web search for more information on this, but came up empty. However, when I lived along the right-of-way of the Purple Line I paid close attention to all matters Purple Line, and I know I saw these issues raised somewhere. I remember thinking that these are very valid concerns which will rear there ugly head only after the line is built and goes into operation. I know it is not feasible under the current political climate, but a heavy rail link that roughly follows the route of the Purple Line would ultimately be the best solution with higher capicity, faster running times, greater reliabilty and which would attract a lot more riders.
Yes, the Purple Line will follow the former Georgetown Branch railroad line between Silver Spring and Bethesda which is now a bike trail. The route and details are available on the Purple Line website. Those living along the trail have gotten used to the bike riders, but a few people with money in Chevy Chase now have their panties in a bunch about a 2 track light rail line running on the route. Even though that has been in the plans on and off for 20+ years, before most of them moved to Chevy Chase. I'm sure part of the reason for resistance from a small group of NIMBYs is that they fear that the riff raff will take the light rail to Chevy Chase MD.If this is doing what I think it is, west of Silver Spring it is following the route of the B&O Georgetown Branch railroad which was taken out of service in the early to mid 1980's. The Georgetown Branch light rail with parallel bike/hike train was proposed at that time. I walked it as part of the initial study in 1988. There seemed at that time to be more opposition to the hike/bike trail part of it than to the rail part. This was more because people were concerned about the riff raff using the trail wandering into their houses, or in the case of the golf course wandering out onto the links. Now, fast approaching 30 years later, it is still just talk. It is maybe a bigger project, but still no real work.
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