Though the Dulles line seems to be the big Metro story of late, for this week at least the Purple Line is getting the headlines. On May 9th, the Montgomery County Council voted to spend $5 million to study the addition of a south entrance to the Bethesda Metro Stop.
The Bethesda south entrance will be a bank of elevators going down from the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Elm Street to the back end of the Metro station. The Purple Line (also known as Bi-County Transitway) will have its Bethesda terminus in the tunnel that goes under Wisconsin Avenue at this intersection.
The Capital Crescent Trail now uses that tunnel, but if the Purple Line is built the tunnel would house both the trail and the Bethesda stop.
The new elevators are expected to cost $50 million and will increase ridership - even if the purple line is never built.
it would help boost Metro ridership from residential areas by 3.2 percent and increase commuter ridership at the station by 7.5 percent, according to a Metro analysis.
The Station Access Demand Analysis considered three options: no build, a two-stop system (metro platform and street level), and a three-stop system (with an additional stop in the tunnel - with access to the CCT). The CCCT is taking no position on whether or not the elevator should be built, but is taking one on what kind of elevator is built
If the county and WMATA decide to go ahead with the project, [Ernie Brooks, chairman of the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail] said, the coalition wants a stop at the trail level included.
‘‘We strongly recommend that they put the elevator stop in at the trail level,” Brooks said. ‘‘A lot of the traffic, not just car and bike traffic, but people traffic, is based around that intersection of Bethesda and Woodmont avenues. It makes sense to have an entrance there.”
I absolutely agree. It seems the added cost of a third stop is small compared to the benefit. One would have a quick, seamless transition between the trail and metro - unlike anywhere else in the system. Even at New York Avenue - which was built with the Met Branch trail - riders have to go down and into the station and then back up to the platform.
In addition to all of this, there are planned rallies in support of the Purple Line and informational open houses. I'm all for the Purple Line - as long as they keep their promise to enhance and expand the CCT.
When the light rail line is built, the paved trail will extend east from Wisconsin Ave. as far as the Silver Spring Metro station, running alongside the new tracks. The old railroad right-of-way is 60 - 100 ft. wide in Chevy Chase, leaving room for two tracks, a trail, and a vegetated buffer between the transportation facilities and adjoining houses. The extension of the paved trail will replace a shorter interim gravel trail, called the Georgetown Branch Trail, which now goes part way to Silver Spring. Instead of stopping to walk across busy highways, trail users will cross Connecticut Avenue on a bridge and go under Jones Mill Road through a tunnel.
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