Thursday, February 21, 2013
'Get Maryland Moving' is calling on the Maryland General Assembly to fund state transportation projects.
A new coalition is advocating for dollars for state transportation projects, including the planned 16-mile Purple Line light rail that would connect Bethesda with New Carrollton, The Washington Post reported. Get Maryland Moving—a coalition of groups, including the Montgomery County and Bethesda-Chevy Chase chambers of commerce, Purple Line Now, Action Committee for Transit and the League of Women Voters of Maryland—is pushing for state legislators to make new revenue for transportation projects a top priority this legislative session, according to the group’s website. Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach has proposed a 3-cent gas tax that would raise about $300 million for transportation …
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
'Get Maryland Moving' is calling on the Maryland General Assembly to fund state transportation projects.
A new coalition is advocating for dollars for state transportation projects, including the planned 16-mile Purple Line light rail that would connect Bethesda with New Carrollton, The Washington Post reports. Get Maryland Moving, a coalition of groups, including the Montgomery County and Bethesda-Chevy Chase chambers of commerce, Purple Line Now, Action Committee for Transit, and the League of Women Voters of Maryland, is pushing for state legislators to make new revenue for transportation projects a top priority this legislative session, according to the group’s website. Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach has proposed a 3-cent gas tax that would raise about $300 million for transportation …
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Montgomery County officials are blasting a state transportation funding plan that calls for re-allocating money earmarked for the two projects if lawmakers can't drum up more funds.
Members of the Montgomery County Council are urging state transportation officials against delaying funding for the Purple Line and the Corridor Cities Transitway. Lawmakers in Annapolis are struggling with ways to fund state transportation projects, including the 16-mile Purple Line light rail that would connect Bethesda with New Carrollton and the upcounty bus rapid transit route. Maryland Senate president Thomas V. Mike Miller has proposed a 3 percent gas tax that would raise about $300 million for transportation projects, Patch reported. But without a funding increase, a state transportation funding plan calls for re-allocating the money earmarked for the two projects and Baltimore’s Red Line within the Maryland Transit Administration’…
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
“The citizens are hurting. They can’t take any more tax increases," believes Maryland House Minority Leader Anthony O'Donnell, reports the Baltimore Business Journal.
Maryland House Minority Leader Anthony O'Donnell has called for a delay in the Purple Line and Baltimore's Red Line, saying proposed tax increases to fund the light rail projects would be too costly for taxpayers, the Baltimore Business Journal reports. In Annapolis this legislative session, lawmakers are grappling with ways to fund the Purple Line, Red Line and other transportation projects. Maryland Senate President Mike Miller has proposed a 3 percent gas tax that would raise up to $300 million for transportation, and jurisdictions would be able to tack on another 5 cents per gallon to pay for local transportation projects, Patch reported. O’Donnell, R-St. Mary’s and Calvert counties, said the Purple and Red Line projects should be put…
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Catch up on headlines this week from across Montgomery County.
A 130-year-old local grocery chain is closing up shop; a North Potomac resident nicknamed "The Turbanator" advances to the next round of American Idol; and Montgomery County councilmembers pledge to increase police presence in schools. These are just a few of the stories Patch reported this week. Get caught up on top headlines here. Magruder's Closing All Locations GAITHERSBURG—Magruder's is closing all four of its supermarkets, including Montgomery County's Gaithersburg and Rockville locations, but they may re-open under new ownership in the future. Read more on Gaithersburg Patch. Man Guilty of Running Prostitution Ring from Rockville Pike Hotel ROCKVILLE—He’s been dubbed “The Pimp on the Pike.” Now, Nahshon Kornegay, 31, of District …
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
County Executive Isiah Leggett announced his proposed amendments to the six-year capital spending plan Tuesday.
The Bethesda South Metro Entrance and the Second District Police Station were both recommended for funding delays in County Executive Isiah Leggett's proposed amendments to the six-year capital spending plan, released Tuesday. The proposed plan “recognizes the vital need to control future debt and focuses on funding critical safety-related capital needs or projects that will boost the County’s recovering economy and spur job growth,” according to a county statement released to the media. New projects proposed in the $4.37 billion CIP include elementary school security systems, bridge repair projects, storm drain culvert replacements and the replacement of the remaining Champion buses in the Ride On bus fleet, which were taken out of …
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Catch up on the top news in Montgomery County this week.
Report: Study Shows ICC Speed Limit Can Safely Increase To 60 MPH GAITHERSBURG—An engineering study of the ICC has concluded that the speed of the highway can safely be raised to 60 mph, pending an analysis of crash data. Read more on Gaithersburg Patch. Montgomery Village Man Killed In Gaithersburg Crash GAITHERSBURG—A 21-year-old Montgomery Village man was killed early Sunday in the collision of his Honda Civic and another car on Snouffer School Road in Gaithersburg. Read more at Gaithersburg Patch. New Renderings Unveiled For Bethesda Purple Line Station BETHESDA -- Maryland Transit Administration officials unveiled new renderings Tuesday for the Bethesda station on the planned Purple Line. Funding for the 16-mile light rail line …
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Station at Wisconsin and Elm Street will be built in conjunction with Red Line Metro south entrance.
Maryland Transit Administration officials on Tuesday unveiled new renderings for the Bethesda station on the Purple Line, a 16-mile light rail planned to connect Bethesda with New Carrollton. The new designs include a five to seven foot sidewalk alongside the light rail through the Wisconsin Avenue tunnel. The sidewalk option was developed after Montgomery County Council members determined it would be too expensive and too risky to route the Capital Crescent Trail above the light rail inside the tunnel. Instead, council members chose to support an option to route the trail at grade across Wisconsin Avenue. “I know it’s a disappointment to people but I think the sidewalk at least gives them an option,” said Mike Madden, MTA Purple Line …
Friday, October 12, 2012
Some Montgomery County Council members recently suggested that a county gas tax be levied to pay for the Purple Line. Do you agree?
The future of the Purple Line, with its $1.9 billion price tag, is far from certain. In fact, many Maryland lawmakers have doubts that the Purple Line will ever be built, due to lack of funds, The Examiner reported: Though state officials hope to get as much as 50 percent of the costs of these projects from the federal government, the state is on the hook for the rest. And with the state's transportation trust fund lacking funds and state lawmakers having rejected proposals to replenish it this year, several Montgomery County lawmakers are nervous that the money will run out in 2015 and the projects will die. But one solution, Montgomery County Council Chair Roger Berliner recently suggested, is for Montgomery County to levy its own gas …
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
A local resident and education professor writes about the importance of environmental justice, community health and childhood development to the decision-making process that is determining the future of the Capital Crescent Trail.
Editor’s note: This is an opinion piece submitted to Chevy Chase Patch by a member of the community. As an opinion piece, it does not represent the views of Patch. Now that the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) has presented its options for the Tunnel on the Trail—including astronomical costs to shove two tracks and a trail into an already problematic space—it’s time to call a halt and rethink the whole proposal. Planners take many variables into account, but the variable of economic development should not dominate the decision-making as it has in the case of the Purple Line. I suggest that other variables—environmental justice, community health and childhood development—now take precedence. Environmental justice is not served when …
Mark Western
9:18 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
Sorry to be a broken record on this topic, but this debate is so ridiculously premature that it is insulting to anyone who understands research, business, finance, and really just has any common sense. Has the research into the light rail between Bethesda with New Carrollton (Purple Line was another project entirely) included asking a single person if they would ride the new light rail? The … more ›