Proposed Purple Line Route Has Trail Users Seeing Red

They laced up sneakers and hiking boots and took to the Georgetown Branch Trail yesterday to urge Maryland's elected officials to rethink a proposal to build a light-rail line along the popular wooded stretch from Bethesda to Silver Spring.

The proposed Purple Line route has the backing of the Montgomery and Prince George's County Councils and both counties' executives. But Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has yet to state his preference for how to connect Bethesda and New Carrollton -- and that's where trail advocates see an opening.

"It's not over until the trees are cut down," said Pam Browning, who helped organize the "No Rail on the Trail" 10k run and walking tour, which she said attracted nearly 500 people, some of whom said they were there for exercise and not for political reasons.

For more than two decades, a 16-mile Purple Line link has been discussed as a way to provide faster and more reliable transit between Montgomery and Prince George's. Much of the debate in Montgomery has focused on whether the route would run along the trail.

On the four-mile path yesterday, advocates had tied purple ribbons and "endangered" signs to the trees to symbolize those that would be cut down to make way for light-rail tracks. As joggers and bikers whizzed by, Browning cited an analysis by a nonprofit conservation group finding that construction along the trail would destroy 17 acres of trees.

"This is such a resource; you can't replace it," said Aileen Worthington, a cyclist who lives in the District.

The project endorsed by county officials would run light-rail trains, which are similar to streetcars and use overhead electrical wires, and is estimated to cost $1.2 billion. The governor is expected to submit a project to federal transit officials for funding this spring, and Maryland transit officials have said construction could begin in 2012.

"We want the governor to know this is not a done deal," said Pat Burda, who chairs a planning committee for the town of Chevy Chase.

Trail advocates said they favor a system that would instead use a rapid bus line north of downtown Bethesda, along Jones Bridge Road. With the state facing a budget shortfall, they said such a system would be less expensive.

"They need to be fiscally responsible," said Lynda Williams, whose home abuts the trail. She showed walkers a swath of her back yard that she said would be lost to the proposed project.

Jack Cahalan, a spokesman for Maryland Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari, said, "The governor and the secretary have always said they will keep an open mind throughout this process."

Advocates of the route along the trail, meanwhile, say the trail exists only because the county bought the land more than 20 years ago to preserve a right-of-way for rail. Montgomery council members have asked the Maryland Transit Administration to consider using a single track along parts of trail to preserve more trees.

Webb Smedley, a board member of the advocacy group Purple Line NOW, said that trains are compatible with hiker/biker trails in other cities and that the project would ensure the improvement of the trail to Silver Spring with safe road crossings.

"There are trade-offs," he said. "The trail will change, trees will have to be cut down, but new trees will be planted."