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Transit Times The Newsletter of the Action Committee for Transit, Montgomery County, Maryland Volume 13, Number 4, October 1999 press conference nixing the InterCounty ACT's next monthly meetings will take Connector (ICC) [see next news article below] place at 7:30 PM, October 12,1999 and came the Governor's announcement of $ 1 November 9, 1999 at the Silver Spring billion worth of road and transit initiatives. He Center, 8818 Georgia Avenue. called it the largest construction program in state history. As part of this program is the October Topic: Bus Priority System on encouraging news that $ 6 million will be Viers Mill Road by Rob Klein, made available for the Georgetown Branch DPWT Trail and Transitway. The $ 6 million would November Topic: To Be Determined be used by the state Mass Transit Administration for the next two major steps. Feature Articles One step is to prepare the final environmental impact statement (FE IS). The FEIS will address comments raised during • $ 6 Million for Georgetown the public process for the draft environmental Branch Trolley (p. 1) impact statement that was completed in May • Glendening Nixes ICC (p. 2) 1996. The FEIS leads to a Record of • U of MD Supports Purple Line (p. 3) Decision, stating the offiCially preferred • Craig Simpson Receives Hero alternative for the project. [There were four Award (p. 3) alternatives: no-build, busway with diesel • ACT Testimony on Transportation buses, busway with hybrid dual-powered Policy Report (p. 5) trolley buses, and light rail.] The Federal • No Congestion Relief Without Transit Administration (FTA) must approve Changing Growth Pattern the FEIS in order for the project to qualify for (p.6) Federal funds (including fund transfers from • News You Can Use -- Smart Growth highway projects). The FEIS is required by (p.6) the National Environmental Policy Act. • 1-270 Corridor (p. 7) • New Mid-City Metrorail Green Line The second step is preliminary Opens (p. 8) engineering design for the project. • WMATA Operates Ride-On Routes Preliminary engineering design goes hand-in­ (p. 10) hand with the FEIS because certain • MARC Service Threatened (p. 10) questions (or public comments) cannot be • Fixing the 50% Farebox Recovery answered without developing the deSign for Mandate (p. 12) the project in more detail. Preliminary • More $$ in Northern Virginia for engineering design is also what distinguishes Transit than Roads (p. 13) FEISs for transportation projects from those • Late Night Metrorail Service (p. 15) for other projects. • ACT Testimony on Smart Growth. (p. 15) These two steps will take 3 years to accomplish (~ yr. for procurement, 2 yrs. for Governor Announces $ 6 Million actual work, and ~ yr. for FTA approval). for Georgetown Branch Trolley Quon Kwan As a side note, included in the $ 1 billion program is $26.6 million for the The day after Governor Glendening's Metrorail Blue Line extension in Prince George's County (from Addison Road to 2 Transit Times, v. 13, n. 4, October 1999 Largo near the National Capital Beltway). growth patterns so that sprawl no longer eats The eastern leg of the Blue Line is the only away forest, farmlands, and open space. leg in the entire Metrorail system that does U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and not reach the Beltway. The money is for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service oppose a purchase of right-of-way and advanced roadway along the Master Plan Alignment engineering design (to take place over 6 between Northwest Branch and Paint Branch years) for the 2-station, 3.1-mile extension. because of severe, adverse impacts to a sensitive stream valley. The ICC draft Funding of these phases for the two environmental impact statement shows that transit projects is consistent with the most of the trips that would use an ICC do not Governor's support for mass transit [see next go from one end to the other but are trips to article below]. major job centers in the 1-270 and 1-95 corridors. ACT President Ben Ross wrote a letter dated September 25, 1999 expressing As an alternative to the ICC, the wholehearted appreciation for proceeding Governor supports two roadways: one with the Georgetown Branch project and between 1-370 and Georgia Avenue and supporting the decision to cancel the ICC. another between US 29 and US 1. Both would lie along the Master Plan Alignment of the ICC and are also recommended by the Transportation Policy Report [see ACT Que Pasa? Testimony on these roads and this report below]. Just a lot of news - so many newsworthy The middle portion (between events have transpired over the last two Northwest Branch and Paint Branch) of the months since the last newsletter. ICC Master Plan Alignment would be preserved as a right-of-way for mass transit (and mass transit only) to connect Rockville, Glendening Nixes ICC MARC lines, and Prince George's County 10 Quon Kwan or 20 years from now. Also as an alternative to the $ 1.5 On September 23, 1999, Maryland billion ICC is a $250 million strategy to Governor Glendening announced, "I will not improve 14 key intersections. These include build the InterCounty Connector (ICC) ... I MD 28 at Gude Drive, MD 355 at have instructed the State Highway Montgomery Village Avenue, MD 212 at Administration to immediately sell the right-of­ Cherry Hill Road, and US 1 at Cherry Lane. way along the proposed northern Interchanges include US 29 at MD 198 and alignments." Briggs Chaney Road. The reasons he gave for his "tough He said, "Finally, I firmly believe that decision" were as follows: The ICC "is doing now is the time to get serious about mass EXACTLY what it was intended not to do. It transit . That is why we have outlined a is literally dividing citizens instead of bringing plan to double the number of mass transit the region together." For almost 50 years trips per day by 2020 [referring to the (ICC was first proposed in 1950), families Maryland Transit Advisory Panel's report]." have lived in fear, not knowing if a highway would be built through their neighborhoods. At press time, Maryland Senate He repeated his commitment to Smart President Thomas Miller, House Speaker Growth [see "News You Can Use - Smart Caspar Taylor, Comptroller Donald Schaefer, Growth" below]. The state has to change its and Treasurer Richard Dixon and County 2 3 Transit Times, v. 13, n. 4, October 1999 Executive Douglas Duncan vowed to programs and (2) Federal agencies, such as challenge Glendening's decision. the National Institutes of Health and Food & Drug Administration, headquartered in Montgomery County. Activism Inner Purple Line stops in the campus vicinity would be at the science and "A doctrine or practice that emphasizes technology area of the campus and the town direct vigorous action in support of or center of College Park. The on-campus stop opposition to one side of a controversial provides easy access to the new Clarice issue" Smith Center for the Performing Arts, basketball arena, and football stadium. -- Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary Transit is often times controversial in a society that is autocentric (i.e .. centered around the automobile). Craig Simpson Receives Hero Award from Civic Federation Ben Ross University of Maryland Supports ACT activist and union leader Craig Purple Line Simpson was recently honored by Quon Kwan Montgomery County Civic Federation. Craig Simpson was born in Montgomery County The official support of the university is and graduated from Springbrook High expressed in a letter dated September 23, School. Since March 1973, he worked as a 1999 from Charles F. Sturtz, Vice President Metrobus driver, starting at Metrobus's for Administrative Affairs to William H. Western Division, then moving to Northern Hussman, Chairman of the Montgomery Division and Montgomery Division. He has County Planning Board. The letter comments driven routes throughout the County. on the Planning Board's Transportation Policy Report [see article on p. 5 below]. He is on a leave of absence from Metrobus while serving Local 689 of the ACT activist Webb Smedley worked Amalgamated Transit Union. Local 689 hard to garner the official support of the represents Metrorail and Metrobus university for the inner Purple Line. [The employees. He started with Local 689 by inner Purple Line is a proposed being elected Shop Steward in 1983 and circumferential rail line inside the Beltway appointed Business Agent in 1989. He was between Tyson's Corner and New Carrollton.] elected Secretary-Treasurer of Local 689 in 1993 and reelected in 1997. Although the university is not in Montgomery County, it urged the Planning When the Glenmont Metro station Board to "not ignore the realities of our opened last year, a new route, the C8 regional economic and transportation system tt Metrobus, between Glenmont and College and the "close ties" with Montgomery County. Park was added. This is only the second bus The university recognizes that the inner route to connect Montgomery County to the Purple Line would relieve Beltway traffic while University of Maryland although some 24% of at the same time strengthen research ties Maryland students come from the County. A between (1) the university's internationally separate Ride-On bus, route 40, connects recognized programs in engineering, Glenmont and White Flint. computer sciences, physics, and life sciences 3 4 Transit Times, v. 13, n. 4, October 1999 Both routes initially ran only in rush payers) are getting for their money. hour, but as many civic groups pointed out, a rush-hour bus did not serve student Next summer, it now appears the C8 schedules. Since the conversion of both the bus will be extended to White Flint. It will C8 and the 40 to all-day service, the two vastly improve the daily commute for routes have been rapidly gaining riders.

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