Who We Are

What We Want

Why Light Rail?

Rails & Trails
    A proven idea
    A safer CCT
    Pedestrian friendly
    Green tracks

News & Events

Project Background

How You Can Help

Transit opponents falsely claim a transit line alongside the CCT will be unsafe and will "devastate" the trail. Here are the facts:

Rose Canyon Bike Path - San Diego Photo by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy from "California Rails-with-Trails"

From the RTC study:

"The good news is that rails-with-trails have been shown to be just as safe as other trails. Every day, thousands of people across the United States safely use existing rails-with-trails. Fears that more trail users would be severely injured due to the proximity of moving trains have never been realized."

and

"Rails-with-trails can be safer than trails next to roads. 'In the last 15 years, more than 76,000 Americans have been killed while crossing or walking along a street in their community,' according to the 2009 Dangerous by Design report by Transportation for America and the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership. Trails separated from roads can provide a safer option. Even with an active rail line near the trail, the exposure from a track carrying ten to twenty trains per day is much less than a road carrying thousands of vehicles per day."

Among the 21 trails surveyed in this most recent report:

1. One third had separation distance (distance from center of track to edge of trail) of 20 feet or less.
2. Over one half had train speeds of 40 mph or greater.
3. Over one half had train frequencies greater than 20 per day, and some had frequencies greater than 40 per day.
4. Four trails had no barrier between trail and rail.

Two earlier studies show very similar results as the new RTC study. One study by RTC in year 2000 examined the safety experience with 61 rails with trails nationwide. Another study by the U.S. Department of Transportation in year 2002 examined lessons learned from case studies of 21 rails with trails. Both studies are available at the RTC Plan, Design, Build: rail-with-trail webpage.

Typical Purple Line design profile in the Georgetown Branch corridor.

The design concept for the Purple Line/Trail compares very favorably with these trails. The Purple Line will have an approx. 20 foot separation distance, both a fence and/or retaining wall, and a planted buffer for trail separation in the Georgetown Branch Corridor. This safe separation of the trail from rail and the greatly improved separation of the trail from roadway crossings will make the CCT much safer than it is today, see A safer CCT.

The Metropolitan Branch Trail at Takoma Park

The CCT would not exist today if not for rail. Montgomery County purchased the Georgetown Branch corridor in 1988 under the Rails-to-Trails Act for $10 million. From the start, the plan was for this corridor to be used as a joint transit/trail project. The Rails-to-Trails Act requires that the corridor be preserved for possible conversion back to rail use.

In 2003, Bruce Adams, who supported purchasing the right-of-way and creating the interim trail while on the Montgomery County Council, observed:

"The Capital Crescent Trail is a regional jewel, but it would not exist today had the council not voted in 1988 to purchase the right-of-way for the rail line",
and
"For trail supporters to attempt to block the rail line by arguing that it will destroy the trail is just not playing fair."

(February 6, 2003 letter to Montgomery Gazette).