"Save our Trail" Rally and 5K

Pam Browning and team are out again, this time planning a 5K race and rally along the Purple Line corridor to "save the trail."

"We support better public transportation, but we don't believe that we need to destroy the most popular nature trail in the area to accomplish this," said Pam Browning, president of Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail.

I'm not sure this is technically a "nature trail" and this future section of the CCT is hardly the region's most popular, but let's move on to meatier subjects.

Her group said the rail line would require cutting 17 acres of trees and would "destroy" the trail's wooded feel.

That's up 3 acres from last year (was there a change in plans?) when during their 10k (I guess that was too ambitious) and rally they littered the trail with purple ribbons and didn't clean them up. About the 17 (nee 14) acres I wrote:

As for trees, 14 acres is the difference between the high-investment BRT and the low-investment BRT on the entire route. Between the low-investment BRT (the only one that doesn't use the Georgetown Branch) and LRT, it's more like 7-12 depending on which system you use, but the section in question appears to be about 9 acres (comparing the low BRT to the mid BRT both of which use the same route almost everywhere but in Chevy Chase) (See Table 4.10-1). So that's more like 8 football fields. The mitigation plan hasn't been defined yet, so it's unclear how much of that we'll get back, but clearly, trees will be replanted where possible. Perhaps, the entire right of way could be claimed by the county and extra trees planted to make up for the lost ones. Perhaps they could be planted on land the Country Club has encroached on.

When the Purple line is built, it will include a trail and it will be paved and connect to the Met Branch Trail in Silver Spring. It will also include bridge crossings at Connecticut and at Jones Mill Road.

Comments

[Wayne Phyillaier]

The author of the Post article is Katherine Shaver. In the interest of fairness, Ms. Shaver should disclose that she lives in Chevy Chase, and so objectivity is difficult for her. Reporters should disclose they live in a neighborhood when they write about a neighborhood issue.
The race is only 5K this year, and will be partially on the local streets in Chevy Chase. Why such a short race?? They have little choice since the Interim CCT is unfinished and they cannot get the race to cross east across six lane Connecticut Ave. without closing this state highway.
So - they run around in circles in Chevy Chase to "save" a local trail from being completed into Silver Spring, paved, widened, and be given grade separated crossings of Connecticut Ave. and all the other busy highways between Bethesda and Silver Spring.
Runners will be running against their own best interests Saturday. Do they really want to keep the trail as a local trail only able to support running in circles in Chevy Chase?

[Wayne Phyillaier]

Oops, this is embarrassing.
My info. on Katherine Shaver is second hand, and turns out to be wrong. She does not live in Chevy Chase. I am still left to wonder why she is always to quick to quote Pam Browning for all of her stories, but never can seem to find the telephone number of WABA or other trail supporters who favor finishing the trail with the Purple Line.

[Eric_W.]

Hilarious. New lows for the NIMBY movement.

[CyclingFool]

"I don't want lower-middle class, not to mention poor, blacks and hispanics having easy access to my town by public transportation. I also don't want that trail by my backyard to actually allow anyone to get anywhere." -Pam Browning , Queen of NIMBY

She didn't say it, but she might as well have...

[Bicycles are not a WMD]

Try to make trail "local Only" seems to be the Mo.Co. way!