WITH NEGOTIATIONS TO BUILD a stadium for D.C. United in the District stalled, officials in the Old Line State have taken a big first step that could lead the team to move to the Maryland suburbs. As The Post's Ovetta Wiggins reports, the Maryland Stadium Authority has decided to spend $75,000 to study a potential relocation's economic impact and tax benefits.
Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson initially pressed the stadium authority to help the county steal the team from the District. Writes Wiggins:
United has shown interest in two locations in College Park. But David Byrd, deputy chief administrative officer for the county, said Johnson wants the team to build a stadium near the Metro stations in New Carrollton or Greenbelt, where it could anchor a mixed-used development.Talks between United and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty to build a new soccer stadium at Poplar Point broke down last summer.
Continue Reading "Md. Looks at Impact of Relocating D.C. United" »
AT AN OPEN HOUSE in Silver Spring last night, transportation officials with the Maryland state government presented ridership projections and other statistics for the long-proposed Purple Line, a 16-mile mass-transit corridor that would link Bethesda and New Carrollton via Silver Spring and College Park. At issue is what form the proposed line could take: light rail, rapid-transit bus or traditional bus service.
Let's take a look at state's findings and projections by the numbers ...
» 47,000: The number of riders a Purple Line light-rail link would attract per day. As The Post's William Wan reports, that figure compares "favorably with similar transit projects being created throughout the country, bolstering Maryland's case for federal money needed to build the $1.8 billion line, state officials said."
» 45,000: The number of riders a Purple Line bus-rapid-transit link would attract per day.
» 29,000: The number of riders a traditional limited bus line along the Purple Line route would attract per day. That's the lowest projected ridership for the Purple Line.
» 46: The number of minutes it would take to ride the Purple Line end to end, according to one alignment option. Another alignment would result in a 73-minute ride.
» "Purple Line Could Draw 47,000 Riders a Year, Officials Say" [WaPo]
» "The Purple Line" [MTA Maryland]
Cross section of a possible University Boulevard alignment courtesy MTA Maryland
GREENBELT OR NEW CARROLLTON could be potential new homes for D.C. United, which is looking to build a new stadium. As discussions broke down this summer between D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and the Major League Soccer franchise for a new stadium at Poplar Point in Anacostia, United officials began looking across the Maryland border for a potential new home.
As The Post's Rosalind S. Helderman reports preliminary discussions have started, and United owner Victor MacFarlane has expressed interest in New Carrollton and Greenbelt, sites the team had considered a few years ago.
Why those sites? They're both Metrorail accessible and have room for mixed-used development with a stadium as its anchor, which is what United was looking for with the Poplar Point site. Additionally, Prince George's County has a large Latino population, which forms a critical foundation for the team's fan base.
All this comes at a time when District officials are trying to figure out what to do with RFK Stadium — United's current home and until recently, home to the Nationals — which will move into a new stadium in Near Southeast in the spring. As The Post's David Nakamura reports, the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, which operates the facility, is looking for $2.5 million in public money, to cover a budget shortfall, "largely the result of the Nationals' ending their annual $2 million rent payment at RFK ...."
» "Would They Call It P.G. United?" [WaPo]
» "Drain Feared As Nationals Leave RFK" [WaPo]
Photo by Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post
OFFICIALS IN PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY apparently see a future in which a super city rises from the fields of Westphalia near Andrews Air Force Base — and they want the Green Line to go there.
Considering all the trouble Virginia's been having with the proposed rail extension to Dulles Airport, we assume there won't be much movement on that for decades. But a county's got to dream.
Now, according to the Examiner, county officials are looking to expand the Purple Line to Largo and beyond. But as the newspaper notes, that transit link doesn’t even exist yet. Talk about getting your requests in early.
Continue Reading "Pr. George's Wants Nonexistent Rail Line Expanded" »
THROUGH THE THREE-DAY LABOR DAY weekend, Orange Line trains will not serve the Cheverly, Landover and New Carrollton stations in Prince George's County due to a major track rehabilitation project. On that end of the Orange Line, trains will terminate at the Deanwood station in the District. Shuttle bus service will ferry passengers to and from the closed stations.
More details here.
METRO WILL CLOSE the Cheverly, Landover and New Carrollton Metrorail stations in Maryland over the upcoming holiday weekend for "a major track rehabilitation project," the transit agency announced today.
From a Metro statement:
Metro will replace the rail switch outside the Cheverly Metrorail station on the Orange Line from 10 p.m., Friday, August 31 to 11:59 p.m., Monday, September 3 (Labor Day). A rail switch or "interlocking" is an intersection in the track, where trains "switch" from one track to another. This work must be done to ensure service quality and safe operation through the Cheverly Metrorail station.Shuttle buses will run every eight to 10 minutes from the Deanwood station, where the Orange Line will terminate, to New Carrollton, with stops at Cheverly and Landover, Metro says.
Metro service will run on its regular weekend schedule on Saturday and Sunday, and on a Sunday schedule for Monday's Labor Day holiday.
» "Cheverly, Landover and New Carrollton Metro Stations to Close This Weekend for Track Work" [WMATA]
IF YOU THOUGHT the bureaucratic back and forth about the proposed Dulles Metrorail rail extension was frustrating, just wait until the debate heats up over the proposed Purple Line in Maryland, which would link Bethesda with New Carrollton via Silver Spring and College Park.
As The Post's Katherine Shaver and Amy Gardner wrote today, the "key decisions about Maryland's proposed Purple Line — the route it takes, the type of rail cars it uses, the possibility of tunneling underground — will be determined not by public opinion or political pressure," but by bureaucrats at the Federal Transit Administration. 
But that doesn't mean that those along the proposed route have been silent. Far from it.
Community opposition to the transit link has boiled down primarily to two groups: The Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase which doesn't want light-rail trains or express buses going through the center of its golf course, and some users of the Capital Crescent Trail, which is built along part of the old right-of-way of the B&O Railroad's abandoned Georgetown Branch line and would have to be realigned to make way for the Purple Line.
ATTENTION, COMMUTERS at the West Hyattsville and New Carrollton stations: This week, musical and other performance artists were introduced during the afternoon rush at your Prince George's County stations as part of the MetroPerforms! program. For a full schedule, click here.
So, just as you head for the parking garage, check out the performances, which run from 4-6 p.m.
IF YOU PLAN on traveling on the Orange, Blue, Yellow or Green lines this weekend, be prepared for delays due to scheduled track maintenance and rail car testing. But if you're heading out for Sunday's 12th Annual Columbia Pike Blues Festival in Arlington, you've hit the transit jackpot: Metro will be providing free rides.
Those attending the festival will not be charged for fares on routes 16B, 16G and 16J, between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. The bus routes runs along Columbia Pike and connect to either the Pentagon or Pentagon City Metrorail stations.
Riders heading through Prince George's County on the Orange Line can expect 20 minute delays between the Cheverly and New Carrollton stations due to track maintenance. Trains between those stations will share a track from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Alternating Orange Line trains will terminate at the Cheverly station and return to the District and Virginia.
Continue Reading "Weekend Track Work, Free Bus Ride for Blues Fest" »
Purple Line Faces At Least a 1 Year Delay
Map It:
Bethesda College Park New Carrollton Shady Grove
Silver Spring
SORRY, PURPLE LINE FANS. Officials from the Maryland Department of Transportation say that because of a flawed study that underestimated projected ridership, the proposed transit link connecting Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park and New Carrollton will be delayed at least a year as the mess is sorted out and the planning project gets back on track.
As The Post's Ovetta Wiggins reports, state Transportation Secretary John Porcari "said he only recently became aware of the projections in the study, which could affect the amount of federal money the projects received." And when you're talking about federal funds "more accurate figures ... may help us to leverage more federal transit dollars," Del. William Bronrott of Montgomery County tells The Post.
Also affected is the Corridor Cities Transitway project, which is slated to connect Clarksburg with the Shady Grove Metrorail station via bus or light rail.
» "Purple Line, Two Other Transit Projects Delayed" [WaPo]
Rendering courtesy MTA
Addison Road