The Purple Line builders want out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda resident here. Like many, I never wanted the purple line and hope this problem kills it - or at least delays it for many years.

Unlikely. This is a signature initiative that Hogan seriously wants. It is one of his highest priorities. All this has done, is what all of the NIMBYs have done since it started is make the project more and more expensive. The project is far enough along that it will continue. There is no way to leave all the work that has been accomplished to date unfinished. There are roads and areas that are torn up and not completed. The construction is causing issues. It was accepted when it was temporary towards the opening of the Purple Line. It is not acceptable to leave it unfinished the way ti is.

I just hope as the costs mount up that the state realizes that Montgomery county residents were at fault here and takes more of the costs out of the state tax revenues that go to Montgomery County. The local NIMBYs should have to pay for the cost overruns that they've caused.

No fan of the Purple Line here. But here is example of MoCo advocacy groups going off the deep end. I have never seen the real need here, and seriously question whether there will be enough passengers to justify the expense.

I live in PG County and I know many people who live in PG County who work at NIH and Walter Reed and assorted businesses in the Bethesda, Rockville area who all would much rather take public transit than have to drive the Beltway in the mornings. I also know people who live in Bethesda and Silver Spring who work at NASA, UMD, FDA, IRS who would likewise prefer to take public transit to driving. There are also those who work for other large employers in PG County (that I don't know) that would probably also use the services. Right now to take public transit, most of these people have to ride the very crowded in bound Metro trains to then go outbound. And even with the transfer at Ft Totten, it takes them much longer to go into town and back out than it should. And that doesn't even take into account the crowding for rush hour. These things make it time prohibitive for them to take public transit without doubling their commute time which is already long. The Purple Line would help most of these folks.

I expect that there will be a lot more traffic than many of those in Bethesda think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda resident here. Like many, I never wanted the purple line and hope this problem kills it - or at least delays it for many years.

Like few, actually. There is broad and widespread support for the Purple Line.

Yup - the Washington Post did several polls on the Purple Line and it was very popular in both Montgomery County and PG County - IIRC upwards of 75% in PG and 65% in MoCo and it was also widely supported by the business community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Destroying a wonderful local bike trail and many people’s homes and neighborhoods just so you can get from Silver Spring to Bethesda in 20 minutes vs 45 doesn’t make it worth it.

All you care about is your being able to get around quickly. You give absolutely no thought to the homes and neighborhoods that had to be destroyed to accommodate you.

You’re a bully, abled by eminent domain.

First, the land was always intended for public transit from the time the trail was purchased many years ago. The fact that an unofficial bike trail was created does not give you squatters rights to the land that the government owns.

Second, as another PP pointed out, the plans include a better and improved biking, hiking trail that is paved and wider, so that it allowed better traffic in both directions along the entire trail.

Third, while the trip from Silver Spring to Bethesda is a side benefit, the primary benefit is to allow tens of thousands of riders a day to commute between PG County and MoCo. It will allow more people to just commute from MoCo to UMD daily than the number of residents that were impacted by the construction. It will also accommodate similar numbers of commuters from PGC to NIH. And there are more than either of those who will use the line daily for other purposes. One of the problems MoCo has is that as a wealthy county, they have more than their share of luxuries that require minimum wage or near low cost hourly workers to support. And the majority of those workers cannot afford to live in the county itself. You import a lot of Starbucks barristas, supermarket clerks/baggers/stockers, janitors, maids, secretaries, receptionists, etc who commute from Silver Spring, College Park and other parts of PGC. This gives many of them public transport options instead of driving themselves to work.

Very typical wealthy, privileged attitude. The majority of those neighborhoods and residents are well off and selfishly want to preserve their luxuries and home values over the greater good for the population. This infrastructure will benefit exponentially more people than it will hurt and is a necessary solution for some of the many transportation issues that this region faces due to the continued expansion of the population.

This reply understates the improvements to the bike trail.

The current trail was barely passable after the heavy rain like we had today and even under good conditions was not great for biking on and certainly wasn't ADA compliant or usable by anyone with a mobility impairment.

The new trail will be ADA compliant and usable year around.

Just as important it will be extended all the way to Silver Spring and this is really cool but the trail will go under Wisconsin and over Connecticut which in the case of CT Ave that is a big improvement over the current condition where you have to zig zag off the trail and wait at a very long light to cross Connecticut.

[Anonymous]

As much as some people like to thrash around screaming NIMBY as the reason for delays, the need to either move water mains or protect them better during PL construction is a much, much, much larger issue. This was always going to be more expensive than the state wanted us to believe because putting light rail through highly developed areas is more complicated than they wanted to admit. MTA is going to have to suck it up and pay more. Hogan is a little distracted right now, but I'm sure he'll get personally involved soon enough and figure it out, which will probably mean pushing more cost onto PG and Montgomery counties.

[Anonymous]

We live very close to the PL. Everyone is a big fan EXCEPT for those people whose property backs onto the trail. Obviously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As much as some people like to thrash around screaming NIMBY as the reason for delays, the need to either move water mains or protect them better during PL construction is a much, much, much larger issue. This was always going to be more expensive than the state wanted us to believe because putting light rail through highly developed areas is more complicated than they wanted to admit. MTA is going to have to suck it up and pay more. Hogan is a little distracted right now, but I'm sure he'll get personally involved soon enough and figure it out, which will probably mean pushing more cost onto PG and Montgomery counties.

Yeah, I'm going to yell NIMBY about the delay caused by the lawsuit filed by NIMBYs that stopped the Purple Line from proceeding for a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live very close to the PL. Everyone is a big fan EXCEPT for those people whose property backs onto the trail. Obviously.

My property does not back to the trail and I do think we'll see property increase if this thing is ever finished. Still, the construction has SUCKED. Literally our whole house was buzzing for weeks when they were pile driving and this would happen at night as well. We're about 3/4 of a mile from construction sites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Destroying a wonderful local bike trail and many people’s homes and neighborhoods just so you can get from Silver Spring to Bethesda in 20 minutes vs 45 doesn’t make it worth it.

All you care about is your being able to get around quickly. You give absolutely no thought to the homes and neighborhoods that had to be destroyed to accommodate you.

You’re a bully, abled by eminent domain.

First, the land was always intended for public transit from the time the trail was purchased many years ago. The fact that an unofficial bike trail was created does not give you squatters rights to the land that the government owns.

Second, as another PP pointed out, the plans include a better and improved biking, hiking trail that is paved and wider, so that it allowed better traffic in both directions along the entire trail.

Third, while the trip from Silver Spring to Bethesda is a side benefit, the primary benefit is to allow tens of thousands of riders a day to commute between PG County and MoCo. It will allow more people to just commute from MoCo to UMD daily than the number of residents that were impacted by the construction. It will also accommodate similar numbers of commuters from PGC to NIH. And there are more than either of those who will use the line daily for other purposes. One of the problems MoCo has is that as a wealthy county, they have more than their share of luxuries that require minimum wage or near low cost hourly workers to support. And the majority of those workers cannot afford to live in the county itself. You import a lot of Starbucks barristas, supermarket clerks/baggers/stockers, janitors, maids, secretaries, receptionists, etc who commute from Silver Spring, College Park and other parts of PGC. This gives many of them public transport options instead of driving themselves to work.

Very typical wealthy, privileged attitude. The majority of those neighborhoods and residents are well off and selfishly want to preserve their luxuries and home values over the greater good for the population. This infrastructure will benefit exponentially more people than it will hurt and is a necessary solution for some of the many transportation issues that this region faces due to the continued expansion of the population.

This reply understates the improvements to the bike trail.

The current trail was barely passable after the heavy rain like we had today and even under good conditions was not great for biking on and certainly wasn't ADA compliant or usable by anyone with a mobility impairment.

The new trail will be ADA compliant and usable year around.

Just as important it will be extended all the way to Silver Spring and this is really cool but the trail will go under Wisconsin and over Connecticut which in the case of CT Ave that is a big improvement over the current condition where you have to zig zag off the trail and wait at a very long light to cross Connecticut.

I'm the PP you responded to. I believe that I had heard that due to cost overruns they were not going to build the tunnel under Wisconsin initially, but that it would have to be added in later.]

Yes, I just found the link to one of the stories:
https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2020/01/with-no-funding-possible-delay-for-trail-tunnel-at-bethesda-purple-line-station/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As much as some people like to thrash around screaming NIMBY as the reason for delays, the need to either move water mains or protect them better during PL construction is a much, much, much larger issue. This was always going to be more expensive than the state wanted us to believe because putting light rail through highly developed areas is more complicated than they wanted to admit. MTA is going to have to suck it up and pay more. Hogan is a little distracted right now, but I'm sure he'll get personally involved soon enough and figure it out, which will probably mean pushing more cost onto PG and Montgomery counties.

Yeah, I'm going to yell NIMBY about the delay caused by the lawsuit filed by NIMBYs that stopped the Purple Line from proceeding for a year.

Good grief, enough with your whining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Destroying a wonderful local bike trail and many people’s homes and neighborhoods just so you can get from Silver Spring to Bethesda in 20 minutes vs 45 doesn’t make it worth it.

All you care about is your being able to get around quickly. You give absolutely no thought to the homes and neighborhoods that had to be destroyed to accommodate you.

You’re a bully, abled by eminent domain.

Have you ever heard of winning a battle but losing the war? I was not, and am not, a PL supporter. But at some point you have to move on. Sometimes when you continue to fight, fight, fight you end up bloodying yourself. Now look at our two options: The project falls apart and we're left with broken streets and an ungodly debt to the federal government. Or it eventually goes forward, but ends up costing us far more than it should have - plus the incalculable damage done to Maryland and MoCo's reputation in the business community. What corporation in its right mind would sink a massive investment in our area, after seeing this?

[Anonymous]

It can get shut down and stop in it’s tracks right as it stands now and that would be just fine with me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It can get shut down and stop in it’s tracks right as it stands now and that would be just fine with me.

+1,000,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good. Shut it down. Don’t need it anyway.

This. Who wants to ride metro anyway anymore?

ME!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good. Shut it down. Don’t need it anyway.

This. Who wants to ride metro anyway anymore?

ME!!!!

Me too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

There has been enough talk and debate. Hundreds of millions have been spent in overrun costs as a result. Years wasted. The fact that a few rich elitist aholes block it because of their bike trails is absurd. We block the improvement on congestion, transport, and pollution for millions of people just so elitist 1%ers can have a bike trail. Screw them. Time to arm HUD against the rich areas of MoCo.

Not so the elitist 1%ers can have a bike trail. If they had wanted a bike trail, they would have supported the Purple Line. So the elitist 1%ers can have a "linear park".