Drivers will have to prepare for yet another loss of taxpayer-funded travel lanes on Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda. Starting August 25, 2022, the right lane of southbound Wisconsin will close to traffic "at Elm Street" until the Purple Line light rail station beneath The Wilson and The Elm is completed. The lane will be used for vehicles accessing the construction site, which includes still-shut-down Elm Street itself. You're talking 2026 or later by the time this lane will again be available to the public.
20 comments:
It could be worse. At least this boondoggle is finally starting up again.
Isn’t it already shut down near there for another construction project?
C'mon Robert, report in depth about the BOOM over by the weed smoking barbers' shop which resulted in a power outage and made Battery Lane Pak off limits completely with yellow crime scene tape...
What a cluster the purple line is in addition to costs estimated to be around 3.4 BILLION, (and we'll see if they can even make that figure), they continue to cause headaches for anyone needing to get around Bethesda. Of course no consequences for any of the politicians who said it wouldn't cost more than 1 Billion and simply love spending other people's money. Just pathetic.
1:26 PM is correct. That lane is already shut down by the Hampden House project. I imagine they will just extend the protected sidewalk that is currently in the far right lane. I guess we are lucky that these are both happening at the same time.
1:47 PM, yes of course the Purple Line is expensive, will take too long to build, with messy construction activity and noise, but in the long run, I think will be transformative for the area. For a moment, try to imagine what the DC area would be like if 50 years ago, they chose not to build the Metro because it was also expensive, messy, noisy and too way too long to construct. DC would have been cut up by massive freeways, and covered in surface parking lots and parking structures. The benefits of the Purple Line will far outweigh the expense and hassle. Looking only at Bethesda, the Purple Line station is anticipated to include 14,900 boardings and alightings on an average day in 2030. That’s more traffic than the Bethesda Metro station has ever had. This likely will be a bit lower with work-from-home, but it still will be a tremendous amount of improvement for folks “needing to get around Bethesda”.
@2:25, whence comes that 14,900/day ridership number? Forgive a reader for being skeptical of any such figures derived by the same calculus that has so infamously and heroically miscalculated the costs of construction for the project.
The problem is that the purple line wasn't thought through properly. While good public transportation is a good thing, the shotgun way they did this, (much like the money wasted on the poorly built Silver Spring Transportation Center), begs the question of responsibility for the cost overruns. Political decisions combined with poor management equals the Montgomery County Council bypassing, with a unanimous vote, the tax increase cap on property taxes. Like I said, no pain at all when they're spending other people's money.
Hah as another person noted, one lane is already closed for construction purposes. I walked by yestrday and that lane was being used for... parking for construction worker's personal vehicles. Typical...
Has government updated expected purple line ridership since the pandemic? In our new age of infection and a new virus around every corner, there just isn't the same usage of public transit. Work from home is here to stay for a sizeable % of the workforce.
3:18 PM
That data comes from this article published in 2017 by Martin Di Caro at WAMU. I was incorrect in stating that the projections were for 2030, when in fact the article states 14,990 passengers per day in 2040. Of course 2017 was pre-covid, but it did reflect the reduced transfers anticipated from declining Metro ridership at the time. In 2019, before Covid, ridership on the Metro was actually increasing again.
Also in 2017, there were far fewer new residential, hotel and office buildings under construction, fully approved, partially approved or in the pipeline, located within the transit walkshed. This increase of dozens of new dense projects, created by “up zoning” mentioned in the article, will likely increase Purple Line usage in Bethesda.
As I stated in my original comment, with work-from-home being the new normal, commuter ridership will likely diminish. But Bethesda strong growth in hotels, retail, restaurants and parking-constrained multi-family residential, more and more folks will be inclined to use transit to get around.
Here is a link to the article:
https://wamu.org/story/17/08/28/everything-need-know-purple-line/
Here is the section on Bethesda ridership projections:
“Will some stations see more riders than others?
Yes, because of what exists around the current station footprints and what can be built under current zoning rules. But the counties intend to “up zone” around some stations to allow for higher density and, thus, more riders.
But as of now, ten stations are forecast to serve no more than 2,000 passengers per day even 25 years out. Two stops have ridership projected below 1,000 per day. For instance, the Dale Drive stop is listed at 960 boardings in 2040. By comparison, the Bethesda station is expected to serve 14,990 passengers per day.
The stop in the Chevy Chase Lake area is forecast at about 2,200 daily passengers by 2040. But Montgomery County has approved big plans for the area, including condos, rental apartments, and office high-rises near the station.”
Hasn't the lane already been closed for a while?
Projections from a single source out to 2040? They can barely tell anyone what the weather will be like next week.
2:25/6:09 Must be either a council member justifying bad decision making or a cheerleader looking to push a huge government project damn the costs. Either way when the project fails to meet minimum expectations or inevitably needs more money they'll be nowhere to be found when looking for someone to take responsibility.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-purple-line-is-a-6-billion-boondoggle/2020/05/20/25315c0a-992c-11ea-ad79-eef7cd734641_story.html
Purple line should have run concentric with 495 and connected directly to silver line too.
I don’t know who determined that MD-ers want to go from SS to Bethesda or vice versa, or that MD-ers prefer BWI over IAD.
Furthermore, this study by WMATA, way back in 2005, predicted that in 2030, access demand at the Bethesda Metro station would be 26,100 riders each day. The study suggests that if a new south entrance was built (expanding the transit walk-shed), access demand at the Bethesda Metro station would grow by 700 to 26,800 riders each day. And if BOTH the south entrance was built AND the Bi-County light rail (now called the Purple Line), access demand at the Bethesda Metro Station would grow by 4300 to about 30,400 riders each day.
This seems to indicate that by 2030, WMATA believed about 4000 Bi-County / Purple Line riders would transfer to or from the Metro Red Line and travel to or from other stations on the Metro each day, with Bethesda not being their final destination or starting point. Many other stations on the Metro Red Line will see increased ridership from the Purple Line, and folks in Bethesda will have much better access to the east leg of the Red Line, without having to travel down to DC and back up.
Refer to page 2 of this analysis:
https://www.wmata.com/initiatives/plans/upload/Bethesda-Final-Report.pdf
Should have just added additional buses to the J2 and maybe extra express lines from SS to/from Bethesda. All for BILLIONS less.
2:25 "I think will be transformative for the area"
- yes it will in a very negative way. It will bring more of the hood to Bethesda.
2:12 "Work from home is here to stay for a sizeable % of the workforce."
- yes it is, more of a slap in the face to taxpayers over this boondoggle.
10:03 "folks in Bethesda will have much better access to the east leg of the Red Line"
- no they won't - they do not want to go to Silver Spring.
8:24 PM
Perhaps you should move to a gated community, work only from home, and never leave your underground safe room to explore, shop, and dine on anything except the internet, Amazon or travel outside of your secure enclave.
Good transit access has been proven to reduce crime by offering better access to gainful employment and education. Lots of folks enjoy traveling to Silver Spring, and even DC to enjoy work, shop, dine and for entertainment. Lots of folks from Silver Spring and even DC enjoy traveling to downtown Bethesda to work, shop, dine and for entertainment, supporting local businesses.
Oh my, who is that scary person standing near me? He seems to follow me everywhere!
"Good transit access has been proven to reduce crime by offering better access to gainful employment and education"
Empirical evidence or wishful thinking? You can't convince crime victims near the Takoma Park Station let alone New Carrollton. Tell your fellow council members that hope isn't a plan.
Just like the redline the purple line will increase crime
Georgetown was so smart to refuse to allow a metro station
Crime statistic in Bethesda were zilch
After redline crime rose but now imploding
I agree, add the increase in crime also decreasing the ridership.
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