Plans for a rapid bus system in Montgomery County should be extended to the borders of the District and Howard, Frederick and Prince George’s counties, according to a new report by the county’s Planning Board staff.
The current plans include 23 routes of buses that cover 150 miles. On many of the routes, the buses would use dedicated lanes on the county’s major roadways to avoid getting stuck in gridlock. Project organizers have said the system will be the county’s version of Metrorail.
The Montgomery County Planning Board is scheduled to evaluate the plans on Thursday. A report released ahead of that meeting recommended exploring the possibility of adding or extending several routes:
• A route should be created along Route 28 to connect Rockville and the Georgia Avenue interchange for the Intercounty Connector.
• A route should connect the National Institutes of Health and Wheaton.
• A route should connect Aspen Hill and White Flint.
• The Old Georgetown Road route should be extended north to White Flint.
• The route along Route 355 should be extended south to the county’s border with the District of Columbia and north to the Frederick County line.
• Route 29 should be extended to the Howard County line.
• Georgia Avenue should be extended south to the District line.
• A new route should run from the Montgomery Mall transit center to the American Legion Bridge via Interstate 270 and the Capital Beltway.
The Planning Board staff also recommended eliminating routes along the ICC and the Mid-County Highway since dedicated lanes are not needed.
Overall, the recommended changes would shrink the system to 139 miles from 150.
The Planning Board staff did not create new cost estimates based on the changes, according to spokeswoman Valerie Berton.
The project was last estimated to cost between $2.3 billion and $2.5 billion to build and another $150 million to $180 million to operate each year, according to County Council staff.
Though a county-commissioned transportation engineering consultant has produced a much lower capital cost estimate, Councilman Marc Elrich, D-at large and the county lawmaker who proposed Montgomery look into a rapid bus system, said he couldn’t reveal the exact number.
Though Elrich agreed with eliminating the routes on the ICC and the Mid-County Highway, he questioned whether the county should spend the time and money studying how to run the system to borders with jurisdictions that don’t plan to build onto the system.
