U.S. Rep. Albert Wynn of Maryland has called on Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley to speed up the study process for putting mass transit across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
But a state highway administration official says the study won’t be expedited.
“We are staying on the pace we are on right now,” Doug Simmons, Maryland State Highway Administration Deputy Administrator for Planning and Engineering, told The Examiner on Tuesday.
And a Prince George’s spokesman said the project isn’t his county’s top transportation priority, as Wynn said it should be.
Simmons said the state highway administration is working with the Virginia Department of Transportation to study possible transit options across the bridge, including Metrorail. The study is scheduled for completion by summer 2008, he said.
In a Tuesday letter to fellow Democrat O’Malley, Wynn also suggests the governor put the project on the state’s list of transportation priorities. Wynn’s Fourth District includes parts of Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties.
In addition to Metrorail, Wynn offered interim ways to connect the Branch Avenue Green Line Station in Prince George’s and Fairfax County’s Huntington Station on the Yellow Line. Suggestions include creating an express train that connects the stations via the L’Enfant Plaza station or express bus service.
“Rail across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge would provide the 100,000 plus Prince George’s County residents who commute across the Wilson Bridge every day with an alternative to congested roadways,” the letter states. “Transit across the bridge will take people off the road and help reduce emissions in our region.”
O’Malley’s commitment to the project will “help me to get the federal authorization” to move forward, Wynn told The Examiner.
O’Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese said the governor forwarded Wynn’s letter to the Maryland Department of Transportation. “The governor is committed to a statewide vision for transportation that includes transit,” Abbruzzese said.
And where, exactly, does bringing light rail to the Wilson Bridge ranks for Prince George’s?
“It’s very important to the county, but it’s not our top priority,” said John Erzen, a spokesman for County Executive Jack Johnson. The Purple Line, which would connect Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties, expansion of the bus system and “transit oriented development” around the county’s Metro stations are all greater priorities, Erzen said.
The new $2.4-billion Woodrow Wilson Bridge carries the Capital Beltway over the Potomac River southof Washington. The original structure was built in 1961,
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