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Myth 1. The Georgetown Branch right-of-way has become a park. You can move the PL rail elsewhere or make it bus.

Facts:

1. The Georgetown Branch right of way was purchased by Montgomery County with $10 million of our tax dollars, for the specific purpose of using the Bethesda to Silver Spring segment for recreation and transit. The right of way was used for trains decades before the Columbia Country Club was established alongside it.


2. The interim trail is fenced off from most of the 100' wide right of way through the Club, which is using Montgomery County property rent-free while perpetuating the misconception that this right of way is not big enough for a 25' transitway and 10' hiker-biker trail. Do the Math! That leaves 65' for landscaping and buffering!


3. There is no viable or cost effective alternative to a trolley-trail project plan to complete the Capital Crescent Trail into Silver Spring. Purple Line opponents argue that the 10,000 weekly interim trail uses should trump sharing the corridor with any other uses. But a closer look at the trail traffic survey shows interim trail use is limited mostly to Chevy Chase neighborhoods, with very little trail use east of Rock Creek. We believe that if the trail is completed through Silver Spring neighborhoods into downtown Silver Spring, trail use will increase to be much higher that it is now.


4. There will be six times as many uses of the Purple Line in one day as there are uses of the interim trail in an entire week. Over 62,000 uses of the Purple Line are expected each day, vs. the only 10,000 uses now seen on the interim trail in an entire week. The trail will be rebuilt as a full width trail with safe separation from transit and with grade separated crossings of all major roadways. It will be completed into downtown Silver Spring. Trail users are being asked to make a reasonable accommodation and can not fairly refuse to share the corridor with transit users.


5. The Capital Crescent Trail between Bethesda and Georgetown will not be altered by the Purple Line. Neither the State, County or Purple Line NOW! propose using that section of the Georgetown Branch right of way for transit.

"A public right-of-way such as the Georgetown Branch is a community asset that should be designed to serve the broadest population possible. It will take commitment and creativity to make sure that this valuable transportation corridor will serve everyone: transit users, cyclists, and pedestrians. WABA is committed to making that happen."

Myth 2. The PL trains will kill or injure pedestrians crossing the tracks.

Facts:

The CCT will be a far safer recreational trail alongside the Purple Line than is the existing Interim CCT and Georgetown Branch Trail. Any risk to future CCT users from transit vehicles is small compared to the risk trail users face today of being run over by motor vehicles while using the existing Interim CCT and Georgetown Branch Trail between Bethesda and Silver Spring. The Interim CCT has dangerous at-grade crossings of Connecticut Avenue and Jones Bridge Road. The Georgetown Branch Trail is on roadways for two miles in Silver Spring, and has six street crossings at traffic lights including at-grade crossings of 16th Street and of Colesville Road. Trail users must cross three (3) six lane state highways at-grade between Bethesda and Silver Spring. Purple Line opponents want us to ignore this risk.

Plans for the Purple Line call for the CCT to be rebuilt as an uninterrupted off-road trail from downtown Bethesda to downtown Silver Spring, with grade-separated crossings on bridges or underpasses of all major roadways. The Trail will be paved and will be at least 10 feet wide over its entire length. Trail users will be separated from light-rail tracks by fences, retaining walls or plantings.

Purple Line opponents try to convince people that the trail not be safe with the Purple Line. But organizations with a proven commitment to expanding walking and bicycling opportunities by completing the trail, like the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail, theWashington Area Bicyclist Association, and the Montgomery County Bicycle Action Group, refuse to support the so called "Save the Trail" effort.

Myth 3. The original Georgetown Branch master plan only contemplated single track. Single track would save trees.

Facts:

1. Light Rail has been specified on the County's Master Plan since 1990 when the Georgetown Branch Master Plan was approved. The lengthy process that led to that decision rejected buses on the right-of-way between Bethesda and Silver Spring. The adopted plan also specifically states on page 49:

   "In the event future consideration is given to implementing additional double track sections, the existing right-of-way is generally sufficient with appropriate structural treatment to accommodate the necessary typical 56-foot trolley/trail cross section (see Figure 4), except along the Metropolitan Branch section from Talbot Avenue to Silver Spring."



2. The 1996 Preliminary Engineering Drawings for the Georgetown Branch show the so called "single track" trolley as having double tracks in the tunnel at the station platform, and also east from the tunnel for 580 feet until the tracks merge. All of the issues of how to fit two tracks and a trail through the Bethesda Tunnel must be dealt with, regardless of any decision about single tracking between stations. The Georgetown Branch trolley station at Connecticut Avenue has a similar double track section leading to the platform, as shown in the 1996 Preliminary Engineering Drawings. The double track extends for 1000 feet west from the station platform over Connecticut Avenue to the vicinity of the first County Club putting green and tee, and also 1000 feet east from the platform.


3. The second track will add about 12 feet in width to a typical transit and trail profile over what single track transit would have. It is unlikely much of that reduced width will save trees during construction. When MTA studied this issue they concluded in their "Single Track in the Georgetown Branch right-of-way" report:

   "While building a trail and single-track transitway would reduce the width required for permanent use by 10-12 feet, construction of that arrangement would still require clearing of most of that 66-foot width. As the trail would be largely at a different elevation than the transitway along the master plan alignment, construction of one track of the transitway would require access from the side. When building one track, the construction equipment would use the space for the other track and vice versa. Therefore, the hoped-for intent that building a segment of trail and single-track segment would reduce the amount of tree clearance from what would be required for building a trail and double-track segment not likely be achieved."

   That 12 foot reduced profile width would be available to replant trees after construction is completed. But the trees now in that zone will not be spared.


4. The MTA single track study also concluded that coordinating the safe movement of transit vehicles going in both directions on the proposed 0.9 mile long section of single track would create severe operational constraints that would reduce the level of service for the Purple Line. We have already experienced this with the failed effort to operate single track sections in the Baltimore light rail system.