In late March, it was revealed that the Montgomery County Department of Transportation is working on three designs for the county portion of the new Capital Crescent Trail tunnel in Bethesda.
The old Air Rights Tunnel was closed last year, and the new tunnel there will only have the Purple Line in it. So the county is building port of a new trail tunnel that will connect to a part beneath the Carr Properties project on the site of the Apex Building.
Tunnel beneath the Apex Building
The department plans to present its recommendations on the project to the council in about a year and a half. The county has budgeted $3.8 million to design the tunnel and estimates the project would cost $15 million to $25 million to construct.
Orlin told the council the design should be finished in time for the council next year to set aside the construction funds that would allow the tunnel to be built by the scheduled opening of the 16.2-mile line in 2022.
Option 1 has a tunnel that emerges on Elm Street, where there's currently parking, and then connects to the Willow Lane cycletrack to the west of 47th. It has the shortest tunnel, and the lowest price, but requires taking a lot of road space. It also has the most direct connections.
Option 2 has a longer tunnel coming up in Elm Street Park and then splitting to go to the trail or turn back south to the WIllow Lane Cycle track.
Option 3 has a tunnel that goes farther down Elm Street and under the portion that is bike/ped only before coming up on the far side of Elm Street Park. It doesn't appear to connect to the cycle track.
Right now, I like option 1 the best. It makes for direct connections and will involve less biking in the tunnel.
Option 3 just makes no sense. I agree, option 1 is best. We're talking a pretty small amount of non-critical parking spaces on a low volume road there.
Posted by: Crickey | May 08, 2018 at 09:22 AM
#2 and #3 both have some very tight turns depending on your routing. #1 has no tight turns. Definitely the best in my opinion.
#3 just seems nonsensical. Why introduce such a tight turn into the middle of the trail, at added expense? That switchback puts the Met Branch "Z" turn to shame.
Posted by: Martin P | May 08, 2018 at 09:41 AM
Option #1 is fine, but I have a slight preference for option #2. It avoids coming up into an intersection and doesn't interfere with access to 4610 Elm (think of future development). Most people from the tunnel will continue east, so I'm not as concerned about the tight turn back to 47th. Not a fan that it takes away park space.
Option #3? No. Just no.
Posted by: Roo_Beav | May 08, 2018 at 02:12 PM
I like option 2 because Im a fast runner and I don't have want to slow down from 14 mph max speed run/walk to 3 mph walk through the crowded sidewalks in Downtown Bethesda I had that experience before outside of the CCT. I would like option 1 if running on the cycle track was legal. Option 3, I do not like because sharp curves are less economical on running distance at high speed.
Posted by: Jessica | May 11, 2018 at 02:28 PM