Rapid Transit Update Headlines Silver Spring Board Meeting (Video)
Local residents heard updates on changes to the County’s Rapid Transit plan during the Silver Spring Citizen Advisory Board’s April meeting.
MyMCMedia’s Valerie Bonk has the latest story on where Rapid Transit is going and what the next steps are for the project.
Bus Rapid Transit is now Rapid Transit Vehicle. That’s just one of the changes that the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board heard on the project during their April meeting.
It’s the next proposed transportation project for Montgomery County and members of the Silver Spring Community say they welcome the idea.
“I think it’s something that Montgomery County needs. Our traffic is horrendous and we need to find ways to get cars off the road,” said Jay Wilson, a member of the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board.
“I drive to my work on 29, Route 29 and I see how congested that road is and there’s so much ridership coming from north to south and I think there’s need for a rapid transit,” said Praj Kasbekar, a member of the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board.
The rapid transit vehicle system is a proposed 160 plus mile County-wide project with dedicated lanes and an estimated daily ridership of 165,000 to 270,000 commuters.
The County has approved a master plan for developing the system in the County starting with plans for several high traffic areas.
“The County Executive has included in his proposed Capital Improvements Plan money to move forward on planning and preliminary engineering for the Route 29 corridor, the 355 corridor, money already existed for Georgia Avenue North and Viers Mill and the State is working on the corner city transit way,” said Tom Street, Montgomery County Assistant Chief Administrative Officer.
While specific station locations have been part of past discussions, the advisory board was told that the formal process for Rapid Transit has just begun and that there aren’t any specific location for stations nailed down just yet.
Also in question is how to pay for the $1 billion project.
“What we don’t know is where the construction monies are coming from,” Street said. “It’s very unlikely that the federal government is going to provide that money so it will probably be some kind of partnership between the State and County and we don’t know how much we can afford and Mr. Leggett has said that repeatedly that we will only move this infrastructure forward as he believes we can afford it.”
“Lots more to be determined but personally I feel that the sooner the better,” said Suzy Zusy, a member of the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board. “It’s going to take a long time. It’s going to happen after the Purple Line.”
“The discussion needs to be ongoing,” said Bernice North, Vice Chair of the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board. “Clearly there are a lot of issues that have not been addressed because the plans are still in progress and that’s causing some concern in the community and I think having further discussions and further communication about what’s really going on with the Rapid Transit Vehicle project will kind of alleviate the nerves and fears of the communities that are being impacted.”
If the Council approves the Capital Improvements Plan, preliminary engineering and planning will begin.
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