The new Needwood Bike Path in Rockville
It was a tale of two trails yesterday in Montgomery County as one trail was closed for good and another was opened.
As you may have heard, the Georgetown Branch Trail closed for ever on Tuesday (I apologize that I was unable to make the ride on Monday that I scheduled. We had a health issue with one of the kids and I had to stay home. Bummed I did not get to ride the trail one last time, although from the looks of this photo it's only mostly closed). Here are some photos from the final weekend and there's one posted below.
But it seems I wasn't the only one to think that Monday was an opportunity. On Monday the "Friends" of the Capital Crescent Trail held a rally and announced that "it will seek a federal court order to keep the Georgetown Branch open while litigation around the Purple Line continues." There's a hearing scheduled for this afternoon on a restraining order to halt construction and it is a real hail Mary.
The plaintiffs in the long-running Purple Line lawsuit filed a new lawsuit Tuesday based on the federal Highway Act that argues the state and federal government shouldn’t be allowed to spend money on building the Purple Line because they haven’t properly funded Metro as required by the law.
Leon has scheduled a hearing at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in his D.C. courtroom on the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order to prevent any irreversible construction from taking place
Others are upset about the closure too. Upset that the notice from the ribbon cutting to the closure was so short, that the interim route is terrible or that Purple Line Transit Partners (PLTP) isn't doing enough to keep the trail open longer. It is unfortunate that PLTP isn't talking to the press to explain things
A spokesman for Purple Line Transit Partners, a consortium of private companies that will design, build, operate and maintain the light-rail line, declined to comment on the closure.
But they did comment on the work
Chris Doherty, a spokesman for Purple Line Transit Partners, said Tuesday that crews are installing sediment and erosion control fencing along the trail. Then crews will begin clearing underbrush, such as small shrubs and bamboo, along the route later this week. In about two weeks, tree-cutting crews will begin removing trees along the trail, Doherty said.
though, perhaps that's on the advice of lawyers. I've heard some grumbling, and it was in the FOTCC letter, that the aggressive removal of trees is to weaken the lawsuit against the Purple Line.
The letter also alleges the state is rushing to close the trail and begin construction as part of a “political maneuver meant to defeat the private federal lawsuit by fait accompli.”
It's also reasonable that the project is behind schedule and tree cutting was banned by federal law until after September 1st due to nesting seasons, but now that it isn't blocked they want to get started, because that's how construction moves forward. Like I said, it's unfortunate they aren't talking and now local politicians are getting involved.
Two Montgomery County Council members also expressed concern about the rapid closure of the trail in a letter sent Thursday to the state transportation department. Council President Roger Berliner and council member Tom Hucker wrote the state and county must do more to ensure alternative routes are safe and questioned whether all of the trail needed to be closed immediately.
On the subject of the detour, Chevy Chase is still signaling that it's willing to work out some kind of official route in the town
Chevy Chase Mayor Mary Flynn said the town has been working with Montgomery County and some surrounding municipalities to map out safe alternative routes for cyclists and pedestrians in an area where some streets lack adequate sidewalks, are too narrow to accommodate bikes and cars, or are slated for different types of construction.
Let's hope they find a good alternative.
As for the long closure, this was forseen and Montgomery County talked about how to mitigate it. Back in 2014, county staff noted that
The Purple Line is expected to begin construction in 2015 and to begin service in 2020. This will mean that the Capital Crescent Trail could be out of service for as much as 5 years. The County T&E Committee asked MCDOT to develop a detour plan during their work session on February 24, 2014. Staff supports this request, and furthermore requests that MTA include incentives to minimize disruption to the trail.
And recommended that
The Purple Line RFP should provide a strong incentive to keeping the trail closure to a minimum and phase trail closures in a logical sequence, consistent with construction phasing/schedules. (MTA)
But I couldn't find any such incentives in the RFP.
It would be a shame if the trail were closed earlier than needed, or kept closed longer than necessary but there isn't any evidence right now that that's the case (but PLTP silence allows for wild speculation). It would ironic if the tactics of FOTC led PLTP to cut down trees sooner than needed, but such is the wacky world of politics and litigation.
Farther north, Montgomery County opened a brand new trail, Phase I of the Needwood Bike Path, pictured above. This got a lot less press (as in none that I can find) but the trail will provide a critical link between the Rock Creek Trail and the ICC Trail and phase I acts as an extension of the latter for now.
It's not shown on the map above, but if you look at the left end of the green line and go straight down to the little pond, that's the current north end of the Rock Creek Trail (via the West Side Trail).
So while the town of Chevy Chase is losing the Georgetown Branch, they still have the Rock Creek Park Trail on the east and north sides and they can bike all the way up to Rockville and then along the ICC Trail, which makes them pretty lucky if you ask me.
Phase II of the Needwood Road Path will start this fall, according to the project website.
As it so happens, I went by the Georgetown Branch just this morning. There is the world's most ineffective barrier up at Jones Bridge. The trail is closed, wink-wink. More pertinent was the closure of Beach Drive at the Maryland-DC line, which forced me to take at least part of one of the unofficial detours, up Woodbine. It wasn't too bad, though climbing out of the Rock Creek valley twice a day will take a lot out of commuters.
Posted by: Crickey | September 06, 2017 at 12:12 PM
Per the Town of Chevy Chase' mayor, the roads are "too narrow to accommodate bikes and cars." Yet that's exactly what they're been doing all along, and continue to do even now. A sign changes nothing.
Posted by: Crickey | September 06, 2017 at 12:16 PM
What exactly is a road that is "too narrow to accommodate bikes and cars"?
It might not be wide enough to put in a separate bike lane, but if it's wide enough for a car, it's wide enough for all.
Besides, the interim trail to downtown Silver Spring went over the 1-lane Talbot bridge. That was expected to handle 2-way traffic of cars, bikes, and pedestrians. (Fun note: one day I saw a school bus had tried unsuccessfully to cross the bridge and got stuck.)
Posted by: Roo_Beav | September 06, 2017 at 12:45 PM