Build the Purple Line, Then Bury It

In 1955, Manhattan's last aboveground rail line, the Third Avenue El, was closed. Since that time, transportation planners, other than Metro's, have generally placed rapid-transit trains either underground or down the middle of well-traveled roads. Chicago has its "L," but one of its newest lines, the Blue Line, was primarily placed down the middle of the Kennedy Expressway. Planners of Metro's Silver Line want to put it down the middle of Route 7 in Virginia, much as the Orange Line runs down Interstate 66.

Here in Maryland, on the other hand, transit officials want to put a section of the Purple Line smack down the middle of a bike trail, part of which runs through the residential neighborhood where I live. The project endorsed by Montgomery 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 Post reported this month that 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. As the governor mulls the project, I hope he considers "cut and cover" construction instead.

A cut-and-cover approach (digging a trench for the tracks instead of deep tunnels) would cost about $50 million or more, but still considerably less than the deep bore tunneling method, which is the way most of Metro was constructed. The funds could be added to the $1.2 billion tab for light rail (bus rapid transit would cost half as much).

Not surprisingly, many who live in the affected neighborhood and use the Capital Crescent Trail oppose a train line running between their back yards. They've been called many names, most obviously "NIMBYs." No one likes name-calling, but plans to put a train through the middle of neighborhood strike many as retrograde. When the Metro system was built, no one proposed running trains through neighborhoods. The lines were put underground or down the middle of major thoroughfares.

Residents along the bike trail, and I am one of them, are not ashamed to say: not in our back yards, please. Why shouldn't the residents of southern Montgomery expect the same kind of concern that elected officials in the District and Virginia showed for their residents? This isn't hard, especially in the 21st century, when so many alternatives exist for surface rail.

But the plans will spoil not just back yards. They will ruin a long stretch of the Capital Crescent Trail. In the 20 years since the single-track Georgetown Branch ran down it, a wonderful local resource has grown up. If a train is put on it, the equivalent of 15 acres of mature trees will come down and never be replanted. (The two tracks and the bike path will use every inch of the right of way.) The thousands who use the trail now hear only the sounds of human voices and birds -- not trains.

There are other, more cost-effective ways to run rapid transit between Silver Spring and Bethesda. Rapid buses in dedicated lanes would cost half as much. But if the Maryland Transit Authority is determined to put a train down the trail, the authority should literally bury it. The "cut and cover" method will still mean all the trees would come down. But once the tracks are built, they can cover them and replant the trees.

That way, even if our children will no longer be able to enjoy the peace and shade of the trail, at least our grandchildren will.