At its July 9 meeting, the Town Council will hold a public hearing on a proposal for a Lynn Drive crossing of the Purple Line transitway. Residents are encouraged to provide their comments on this proposal so that the Town can determine whether to request that the crossing be included in the Purple Line design plans.
Over the past four and a half years, the State has proposed various ways pedestrians could cross the Purple Line tracks from the Lynn Drive path when the Capital Crescent Trail is moved north of the tracks. The Town has rejected all ideas to date as either unworkable or unsafe.
Recently, working with the Town’s Purple Line Mitigation Advisory Group (MAG), the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) has proposed a design that would elevate the light-rail tracks to accommodate a pedestrian underpass from the Town to the north side of the transit way. Under this plan, Town residents would walk up the current Lynn Drive path, then turn left and walk towards Bethesda on a newly constructed 5-foot-wide sidewalk to enter an underpass beneath the Purple Line and Capital Crescent Trail.
The underpass would require temporary construction easements, property acquisition and construction costs not currently included in State plans, and it is unclear how the State, County and Town would share these costs.
In June, the Town Council voted 4-0 (with John Bickerman absent) to request that MTA include the latest underpass design as a placeholder in the Request for Proposal issued to prospective Purple Line partners. The Town will explore costs, cost-sharing arrangements and alternative ways of accessing the underpass and hear residents’ views before making a final decision. The Town Council can ask to have the underpass removed from Purple Line plans if the community and the Council decide it is not in the Town’s best interest.
An illustrated description of the Lynn Drive crossing proposal, presented to the Town Council on June 11, can be viewed on the Purple Line Mitigation Advisory Group page on the Town website.
If you cannot attend the July 9 Council meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall, you may submit comments to the Town Office at 4301 Willow Lane or townoffice@townofchevychase.org prior to the meeting.