Sunday, July 16, 2006; B08
A Project Derailed
Last month Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich fired me, his appointee on the Metro transit authority board. Now that he has released me of my free-speech restraints, I can offer my thoughts about The Post's July 7 editorial regarding the proposed Purple Line.
The Ehrlich administration has been stringing this project out for all it's worth. It is leading a prolonged attempt to obfuscate, alter, study and delay the project so as not to face up to the fact that, without a tax increase, the project is underfunded. All money available is going to the intercounty connector and, indeed, even future federal money has been bonded for that project.
During my recent tenure at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, I met with several parties and engineers regarding a plan to close the Red Line loop between Silver Spring and Medical Center without involving the Georgetown Branch. The concept involves structuring the financing in a way similar to that of the New York Avenue station -- the costs would be split among the federal government, the state and developers with land interests in the area. I met with developers and financial interests who were very interested in the concept. But the ICC commitment has left the state without capital for such projects well beyond the Ehrlich administration, even if it has a second term.
Maryland's transportation needs are overwhelming and grossly underfunded. One can argue about the state's spending habits and means of revenue collection for the general fund. However, on transit issues the transportation trust fund is largely funded by the gasoline tax. It has not been adjusted in more than a decade. The recent run-up in gas prices has demonstrated the ability of the market to absorb a considerable increase in the price of gasoline. If the state wants to get serious about transportation, there needs to be strong leadership to produce the required revenue.
At this point, a 10-cent increase in the gas tax would easily be lost in the next fluctuation of the price of oil. Without such an increase there will eventually be few transportation alternatives worth riding.
-- Robert J. Smith
Gaithersburg
It's Right on Track
The Post's July 7 editorial "Going Purple" rested on the assertion that the Bi-County Transitway project (informally known as the Purple Line), an east-west transit line connecting New Carrollton to Bethesda, is stalled due to a lack of political will and local opposition to operation of a rail line on the old Georgetown Branch, now a portion of the Capital Crescent Trail. But the facts demonstrate Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s strong commitment not only to building this project but also to solving many associated community impact issues.
The year before Ehrlich's election, Gov. Parris Glendening expanded the project from a four-mile corridor between Bethesda and Silver Spring to 14 miles from Bethesda to New Carrollton. This expansion altered the character of the project. For example, the transitway must now be double-tracked in narrowly constrained corridors previously planned as a single track. Furthermore, the transitway must be threaded through many additional neighborhoods, raising new right of way issues. Nevertheless, much has already been accomplished. Two key projects -- transit centers at Silver Spring and Takoma/Langley Park -- are fully funded and scheduled to start construction within months, representing an initial investment of $87 million.
The project has advanced on schedule in anticipation of a draft environmental impact statement next spring despite several obstacles. The engineering challenges of getting the transitway over or around narrow CSX-owned right of way and on through east Silver Spring communities are genuine.
The belief that this project was ready to be built as a light rail is based on confusion between the previous status of the shorter 4-mile version and the much more ambitious 14-mile project. Any new transit project must meet the increasingly rigorous cost-effectiveness standards set by the Federal Transit Administration. Projected ridership and the time saved by riders must be balanced against the cost to build. Moreover, new FTA rules require us to develop a new computer model to more accurately predict ridership (work that the Maryland Transit Administration and Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments are doing).
In order to pass muster with the FTA to qualify for federal funding, we are required to examine all viable options (including a no-build option). In fact, the Bi-County Transitway study includes an evaluation of six different "build" alternatives along the corridor -- three using light rail and three employing bus rapid transit. Any and all heavy rail options were taken off the table in 1996 during the Glendening administration due to excessive cost.
The Purple Line is moving forward following procedures mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency and the FTA.
-- Robert L. Flanagan
Hanover
is Maryland's secretary of
transportation.