Montgomery County politicians, business and community leaders want to extend a light rail line that would connect Metro to Clarksburg.
The officials endorsed the light rail plan for the proposed Corridor Cities Transitway that would extend 13.5 miles from Shady Grove.
“This is not new. The CCT has been on the books for 15, 20 years, and now we are saying it is time to build it,” said Marilyn Balcomb, president of the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce.
Balcomb said the project already has about 80 percent of the needed right of way secured, with a majority “in the public’s hands.” With no controversyover the project, “It is time for the [Maryland] Secretary [of Transportation Robert Flangan] and Governor [Robert Erhlich] to make funding decisions,” she said.
Three modes of transportation are being studied by the state for the project: bus rapid transit, light rail and a no-build option.
The estimated cost to build the light rail is $865 million and the rapid bus system’s cost is about $539 million, said Flanagan in earlier reports.
The cost of building a bus transitway is less expensive than light rail in the beginning, but light rail costs less to operate, said Sen. Robert Garagiola, D-Germantown. “You get a better return of investment with rail,” he said.
Besides being slow, “the current administration has been about one solution to dealing with our transportation problems and have not put a similar focus on mass transit,” said Garagiola, who also favors light rail because it would better promote growing economic development in the quickly growing Interstate 270 corridor.
Germantown has a residential community of 85,000 people, said Michael Knapp, a Montgomery County Council member. The employment is zoned for 70,000 jobs, but there are currently 20,000, he said.
“The only way to see those other 50,000 jobs there is if you put in transit,” he said. The result will be less congestion, he said.
The Maryland Department of Transportation formally requested funding ideas from the private sector earlier this month, said Erin Henson, a MDOT spokeswoman. The study is expected to be completed by spring, she said.
“I’m hopeful we’ll have a decision in the spring, but I can tell you we’ve heard that before,” said Garagiola, who said the debate over funding can’t begin without a decision from the state.
cgoodman@dcexaminer.com
