FREE RIDE

Green Line to Westphalia?

Courtesy WMATAIF YOU'RE HAVING trouble keeping track of planned, future and proposed transit expansion in the region — the Dulles Metrorail extension, the Green Line expansion to BWI, the Purple Line linking Bethesda, Sliver Spring, College Park and New Carrollton — here's another potential project to throw into the mix: The Green Line to Westphalia near Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George's County.

Its all part of a plan to make the Andrews Air Force Base area the National Defense and Technology Corridor, a notion championed by the Prince George's County Business Roundtable. As The Post's Anita Huslin reports:

...[T]he Business Roundtable suggested that the county's planned town center just east of Andrews should be developed with an eye to serving the military community. Under the county's plan, 15,000 units of housing, 2 million square feet of retail, six new schools, and hotels and entertainment venues would be built. Eventually, according to the plan, a town about half the size of Columbia would rise on 7,000 acres bound by Ritchie Marlboro Road to the north and east, the Capital Beltway to the west, and Maryland Route 4 to the south.
An Andrews Air Force Base-area terminus never came into serious consideration during the drawn-out battle in the 1970s and '80s over where the Green Line's southern stretch should end.

While Branch Avenue was slated as the original terminus during the system's concept phase, debates over the Green Line's alignment in the District — it was originally supposed to serve Anacostia's historic downtown and run to Branch Avenue via Good Hope Road and the Skyland shopping center instead of through Congress Heights as it currently does — caused some in Prince George's County to want to shift the route to Rosecroft Raceway. Proponents of that plan included then-County Councilman Parris Glendening (who became Maryland's governor) and then-state Sen. Steny Hoyer (who serves currently as House majority leader on Capitol Hill).

After public hearings, lawsuits and court orders, Metro settled on the Green Line's Branch Avenue alignment via Congress Heights. If the route would have gone to Rosecroft — much farther to the west than Branch Avenue — extending the Green Line to serve Andrews Air Force Base now would likely be a much more difficult proposition.

» "Prince George's Sees Andrews As Hub of Development" [WaPo]
» "Metrorail Branch Avenue Route Completion" [Roads to the Future]

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COMMENTS (6)

  • i've always thought that the green line should have gone to andrews, and wondered why they didn't run it the extra mile-plus to make simple access to andrews a reality.

    actually, a far-out idea i talked about with a friend once was a "simple" way to solve the problem of metro access to dulles. the idea was to flip dulles and andrews' jobs. make dulles the AFB, and andrews becomes the commercial airport. now, i realize that this would never happen, as the ancillary problems (commercial industry, etc.) would be almost insurmountable. but, just thinking on the "we need rail access to the airport" idea, this short green line extension, along with the flipping of the airports, would be a quick way to make 2 DC area airports metro accessible.

    By IMGoph , Posted March 12, 2007 11:31 AM

  • In addition to that, there was talk (again, not too serious) after 9/11 to give Nat'l Airport to the U.S. military and make Andrews Air Force Base into a new airport for non-military uses.

    By mgrass , Posted March 12, 2007 12:18 PM

  • I think the idea is also in the future to run the green line to the new Gaylord National convention center they are building in PG County on the Potomac. Otherwise, having a 2,000 room hotel/convention center with no access to public transportation seems silly.

    By Carrie , Posted March 12, 2007 12:38 PM

  • Metrorail wouldn't run to Gaylord's National Harbor ... but there are plans to extend the light rail line that's under construction in Anacostia to the site. Gaylord plans to run ferry service between National Harbor and the District.

    By mgrass , Posted March 12, 2007 2:19 PM

  • Why stop at Andrews AFB? The logical solution to the nightmare that is US-301 during the commuting hours is a Green Line extension that terminates in Waldorf, MD.

    By SWR , Posted March 12, 2007 4:43 PM

  • Not only is there a nightmare on 301, but Route 5 is horrific, and the Branch Avenue Metro Station parking lot is full by 7:30 am. Waldorf and Clinton need to be added to the green line.

    By MJG , Posted May 30, 2007 2:13 PM
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