A group of developers has commissioned a study to find ways to shave costs from the proposed Corridor Cities Transitway, hoping to give the Montgomery County project a better shot for scarce transit dollars.
But transit advocates are worried that such attempts at cost efficiency would further gut a project that already is a shadow of what was once envisioned for the corridor that extends from Shady Grove up the Interstate 270 corridor.
Johns Hopkins University, which is trying to create a major development known as “Science City” near Gaithersburg, and about a dozen other developers have hired Kittelson & Associates to assess ways of making the project more cost efficient. Their developments are contingent on getting the line built.
Local officials have tried to scale back the proposed transit line, which would provide an alternative to congested I-270. Initially supported as a light rail line, the Montgomery County Council changed its mind and now backs a bus rapid transit system.
A bus-based transitway would cost about $280 million less than a light rail, down from about $772 million to $491 million, according to a recent study. It also could be finished earlier, with the first phase from Shady Grove to Metropolitan Grove completed by 2020 instead of 2031.
The developers’ study is considering other measures such as putting the bus line in the road median to help it use an existing bridge, rather than need a new structure. The report, still a draft, has been circulated among state and local officials, said David McDonough, Johns Hopkins’ senior director of development oversight.
But transit advocate Ben Ross with Montgomery County’s Action Committee for Transit said the changes could force the buses to have to share intersections with regular traffic.
“The promise is rapid but the bus is slow,” he said. “If you have to go through the regular busy intersections, what’s the point?”
He added that such issues are frequent with these proposals.
McDonough countered: “It doesn’t reduce the quality of the service one iota.”
The CCT is the latest project subject to potential cost cutting. Last week, a state official told a Montgomery County Council committee they are considering eliminating a bridge over Connecticut Avenue for the proposed Purple Line, which would put the train into the path of traffic.
Maryland is putting forward three major transit projects: the Purple Line that would run between Bethesda and New Carrollton, the Red Line in Baltimore and the CCT. But federal and state funding is scarce for any, let alone for all three projects.
