Work has restarted on the Purple Line light rail system and station in downtown Bethesda, and on the related new south entrance to the Bethesda Metro station. You can see these shipping container-style trailers have been placed on the site behind 7272 Wisconsin Avenue. Matt Pollack, Executive Director for Transit Development and Delivery for the Maryland Transit Administration says the new elevator entrance to the Bethesda Metro station will involve some unique excavation and construction methods to work in a very confined space.
"The gantry is quite an interesting bit of engineering, involving a crane supported by metal rails straddling sides of the shaft and allowing for efficient removal of material in a small space where there is no room for a traditional crane," Pollack said. Crews will start by removing the elevator shaft cover on Elm Street at Wisconsin Avenue. They will dewater the area, and begin work on the gantry shed's foundation, which will provide the base for the crane operation Pollack described.
22 comments:
This is going to change Bethesda and not for the better. I guarantee you that they will never have the ridership numbers they think they are going to have. This is a major albatross and Governor Hogan should have focused his attention toward the Red Line in Baltimore instead. I think he was stuck with the Purple because of federal monies. It's hard to remember it's been so long. Wait til all the unsavory people start showing up around that area. It's gonna be awful.
Hello 7:03 racist much?
@7:03 AM: I guess we'll see how well the "Hate Has No Home Here" Bethesda residents handle the changes you're talking about. I already conceal carry. Maybe they will too.
I completely disagree with the previous comment.
I predict that the Purple Line will wildly exceed predicted ridership. As the first leg of a circumferential mass transit line in the DC metro area, many folks will utilize it combined with the two legs of the Red Line, to avoid traveling down to DC for many cross town trips. Think of it more as a Red/Purple Circle Line. Circle lines in metro areas are often the most heavily utilized. From Bethesda to Silver Spring will only take 8 minutes on the Purple Line. Way faster than getting your car, driving and parking again. It will be quicker to ride from Bethesda Row to downtown Silver Spring, than it would take to WALK from Bethesda Row to the Woodmont Triangle.
Many students and faculty at the University of Maryland will enjoy the benefits of multiple mass transit stations to get around the large campus, and access off campus student housing opportunities. Students can easily save money and live at home, and commute to the university. The improved and extended CCT between Georgetown, Bethesda, Rock Creek and Silver Spring will be transformative for the area, made possible by the Purple Line.
It has widely been proven that access to high quality mass transit actually reduces crime by providing enhanced access to affordable housing, and access to jobs and educational opportunities. Criminals are not the smartest bunch, but they usually are smart enough not to time stamp their criminal activity on security cameras, by riding mass transit before and after their crimes. Transit greatly reduces the requirement to own a car to get around, and access gainful employment, allowing folks to build wealth by saving money, instead of spending it on a car.
The average cost to finance, fuel, park, maintain and insure the average car in the United States is about $9500 per year. It’s tough to pull yourself out of poverty with this burden.
Agree with 7:03. Will end up like downtown silver spring. Lost city.
how is 7:03 racist????
8:48 - First of all, racist is used way too much and incorrectly. What I said was nowhere near racist look it up. Second, conceal carry, as we've discussed on this blog, is a smart move. Believe me, this transit station will bring bad elements they always do.
@7:53 AM: 7:03 didn't specify any race. "Unsavory" isn't a race. People like you prevent actual racism from being taken seriously.
7:53 AM: Only racist I see here is you making assumptions about who's unsavory. You can put down your virtue signal now. Thanks.
@ 1259, agree with that. Especially as a person who uses both the metro and buses. I see it all. Better safe than sorry. So many bad elements on public transportation.
Thank you for this post - I hope you please keep posting, as many of the other comments are so sad and not useful for building our community.
9:32 Makes a lot of assumptions when spending upwards of 6-BILLION DOLLARS of other people's money.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-purple-line-is-a-6-billion-boondoggle/2020/05/20/25315c0a-992c-11ea-ad79-eef7cd734641_story.html
The ultimate virtue signal for politicians especially when their renewables plan is getting ready to cull a percentage of the world population.
@ 6:27 AM - Who is "Frederick H. Graefe, Bethesda"?
From his letter: "...subsidiz[ing] travel for landscaping employees to get to Chevy Chase and Bethesda."
A dog-whistle is not supposed to be a foghorn. You're doing it wrong.
As usual the people least concerned about the way taxpayer dollars are spent are concentrated the analogy of an opinion from a DC lawyer.
I would say put your money where your mouth is but liberals never do.
https://www.npr.org/local/305/2022/01/13/1072728035/purple-line-will-cost-billions-more-than-planned-open-4-5-years-late
https://www.marylandmatters.org/2022/01/27/with-3-4-billion-construction-contract-purple-line-moves-forward/
https://www.hyattsvillewire.com/2022/04/24/purple-line-cost-delays/
Question: If your predictions and assumptions, shared by many democrats who love taxpayer funded vanity projects, fail to meet a majority of expectations, will you or any of the PL cheerleaders stand up and take responsibility? Like the high-speed rail line in CA, the answer is never.
8:54 - Well stated. I'm reminded of the brilliant Governor/Senator Rick Scott who, when governor of FL, scuttled the high speed rail project there knowing it was a taxpayer funded boondoggle. He was right. These things never come in on time or anywhere near budget. And the ridership? That won't hit any targets either.
Imagine what DC would be like if back in the 1970’s, they decided the proposed METRO system was too expensive, too messy, too disruptive, and a waste of taxpayers dollars. Image the DC area sliced up with massive freeways, and downtown filled with huge parking decks. Mass transit does not solve everything, but in my opinion, it is well worth the effort. Yes it is very expensive, very messy and very disruptive to build, but it will certainly reduce the amount of personal vehicles on the road as the region grows.
Let’s design, finance and build even more light rail, like extending the Purple Line westward to Tysons. Now that would truly transform the region by directly connecting the two largest exurban transit villages with rail.
And we should also build the Northeast Maglev project and connect DC and NY with frequent 300 MPH high speed trains. We should extend the DC Streetcar from Union Station to Georgetown, providing a convenient cross town connector through the heart of DC. We should get MARC and VRE to add direct connections and run through service, including all day inbound and outbound two way service. We should build Burnham Place at Union Station and create a world class transit hub, and build transit oriented housing above the tracks. We should expand the Potomac Water Taxi service, adding stations at the Navy Yard and Buzzard Point, and create more frequent and less expensive service. We should build the proposed high-capacity gondola system connecting Roslyn and Georgetown.
I'd rather see Elon Musk's tube concept which would take you from Bethesda to Baltimore in 15 minutes and all below ground.
At 311 MPH the Northeast Maglev would take only 15 minutes from DC to Baltimore, and only 1 hour from DC to New York. The Maglev system would have much higher capacity than Elon’s tube concept, and is a highly proven and reliable technology, already used in many cities. A private Japanese company has already stepped up to fund a large part of the project, not unlike most private bullet trains in Japan. Maglev seems like a logical fit for the northeast corridor, and would supplement the Acela and slower Amtrak and MARC trains.
Ignoring 6:56's 2nd & 3rd paragraphs which were meant as humor in utopia.
Apples and oranges analogy in that the DC Metro eventually cost 10B, (finished in 2001 which is equivalent to about 17.2B in 2022 dollars), for 103 miles of mostly underground rail. The PL will cost between 3.5B and 6+BILLION dollars for 16 miles of intrusive above-ground rail.
I realize liberals don't care about or teach math but take a step back and really look at those numbers and tell us again what a good deal this is for taxpayers? Why didn't they explore alternatives or add several more busses to the J2 for BILLIONS less? All fun and games until you run out of other peoples money.
@5:49 How is the power grid, already under enormous strain thanks to over reliance on renewables, going to handle enormous power draw needed to supercool the magnets?
Liberal fantasies would make me laugh if you guys weren't in charge, driving everything you touch off the cliff at full speed.
I'm sure you love eliminating new ICE cars by 2035, as passed by democrats in CA and being looked at seriously by 8 other states. Except the following week they told EV owners not to charge due to stress on the power grid which is a direct correlation to democrats shutting down nuclear and fossil fuel plants to rely on unreliable, overpriced and environmentally damaging renewables. Good job.
9:06 AM
Unfortunately, regular bus routes do not draw developers to invest in transit oriented development. Even well done BRT has struggled to attract development. Fixed rail has been proven to encourage smart growth and reduce suburban sprawl. I agree that fixed rail can be terribly expensive to build and operate, but I really don’t see an alternative.
10:58 PM
There is no doubt that the power grid needs to be enhanced to meet the growing needs of a non internal combustion society. Large solar farms, and wind turbines can help. Geothermal and private rooftop photo-voltaic panels can certainly be increased to reduce the demand for power. Reducing the amount of single family homes, and increasing more efficient multifamily house can greatly reduce energy consumption. Creating dense walkable transit villages can reduce our reliance on personal transportation.
9:36 Has really not thought any of this through.
With the federal debt hitting 31-TRILLION dollars and state budgets cutting other programs, let's spend upwards of 400-MILLION dollars per mile on a vanity project that will NEVER meet expectations. Look at the current metro system ridership numbers and how taxpayers will end up subsidizing a poorly run system well into the future.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/05/12/metrorail-bus-ridership-wmata/
The PL is that much worse in cost and will never see ridership numbers approaching even a fraction of break-even. Where will you be when that happens? I know it won't be taking responsibility for encouraging any of it.
Your response to 10:58 is hilarious if it wasn't so sad and uninformed. I realize liberals think electricity comes from wall sockets but there is a lot more to it than just "placing solar farms and wind turbines"
Pro Tip: Solar panels don't work when the sun doesn't shine AND there's the storage issues that have to deal with NICKEL, COBALT & LITHIUM which liberals think magically appear in their purest form ready to process without any use of fossil fuels. This is not mentioning the environmental disaster represented by aging solar panels and efficiency loss over time. CA is a great example of what not to do, (in so many ways actually), by removing nuclear and fossil fuels when relying on renewables.
Wind turbines aren't the answer either.
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aae102
Liberals really need to show us what a good intentioned country looks like
Venezuela...
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