Politics & Government

Cheaper CCT Proposal Draws Mixed Reaction From Upcounty Residents

Transit officials present alternative plan for Corridor Cities Transitway during Upcounty Regional Advisory Board meeting in Germantown Monday

A proposal Montgomery County landowners drafted to build a mass transit system sooner and cheaper than what already has been proposed drew a mixed reaction from the Upcounty Regional Advisory Board during a meeting Monday in Germantown.

The board heard two presentations from transportation officials — a report from the county executive’s Transit Task Force and another offering a cheaper version of the Corridor Cities Transitway, a 15-mile north-south transitway proposed from the COMSAT facility near Clarksburg to the Shady Grove Metrorail station.

The CCT is what spurred the most discussion.

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The Maryland Department of Transportation has said the first 9-mile segment of the CCT would cost $565 million, with construction beginning in 2018. The alternative proposed spending $310 less for the same phase, beginning operation by 2015, presenters said.

The CCT would be part of a public transportation system that would rely on a countywide network of guided busways for “rapid transit vehicles," not to be mistaken for a bus, said David M. McDonough, a member of the county executive's Transit Task Force.

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"This is very truly a hybrid,” he said. “A Metro on rubber tires.”

The Gazette reported on the alternative plan when it was released in May by a coalition of landowners within the Great Seneca Corridor, including Adventist HealthCare and Johns Hopkins University.

McDonough is also senior director of development oversight for Johns Hopkins University. He spoke on behalf of William G. Robertson, president and chief executive officer of Adventist HealthCare when presenting the alternative CCT plan. Edward J. Myers, senior principal engineer with Kittleson & Associates, the Baltimore-based firm that performed the study for the landowners, also spoke.

Generally, the route in the alternative version mirrored what the state . Phase one would hook south from Shady Grove Metro stop, dip into King Farm before hooking north and west back toward Metro Grove MARC Station, according to what presenters showed Monday. Phase two would incorporate the 6 miles from Metropolitan Grove to COMSAT. 

“Who in their right mind would go from Clarksburg to Metro Grove in that circuitous route?” board member Doug Noble asked.

A Clarksburg resident called the Corridor Cities Transitway a “meander” instead of a “corridor,” while others claimed current Ride-On bus schedules offered more direct routes at comparable times.

Montgomery County Councilmen Craig Rice, of Germantown, and Phil Andrews, of Gaithersburg, said that even with the lower price tag, the alternative CCT proposal would be a hard sell for the Council.

Andrews said placing the rapid transit vehicles in regular traffic on parts of the route risked taking the “rapid” out of “rapid transit.”

Rice said he was concerned some of the cost-saving measures of the alternative CCT came at the expense of quality and that Upcounty residents would not be served as well.

“We’ve been paying into the coffers of mass transit without reaping the benefits,” Rice said. “Why am I going to cheapen the system to save money to spend elsewhere?”


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