Advocates push all-transit alternative

The nonprofit advocacy group cobbled together several proposals and called for expanded service on existing lines, making them all interconnected so riders could transfer among them.

“It adds up to more than the sum of its parts,” said ACT President Ben Ross.

The group said those plans could be had for the same $4 billion-odd price tag of the state’s highway-widening proposal.

Their alternative plan calls for:

»  Extending Metro’s Red Line to Germantown Town Center and Gaithersburg.

»  Running MARC commuter trains all day in both directions instead of the currently truncated schedule.

»  Running the proposed Corridor Cities Transitway as light rail through King Farm, Kentlands and Germantown to Clarksburg Town Center.

»  Creating light rail along Route 355 from White Flint mall to Lakeforest Mall.

ACT members began handing out leaflets to commuters last week, trying to convince them there might be another way.

But some say they are too late. “I would have liked to have their voice weigh in with the state when they were doing this study,” said Frederick County Commissioner Charles Jenkins.

But some say they are too late. “I would have liked to have their voice weigh in with the state when they were doing this study,” said Frederick County Commissioner Charles Jenkins.

He also called the ideas a “a smokescreen for improvements to Montgomery County at the expense of Frederick County.”

But Ross says the state’s proposals are distant. As President Obama touts public transit, he said, now could be a good time to change gears. And he said the transit plan has won some support from state legislators.

Still, Montgomery County Councilwoman Nancy Floreen isn’t entirely convinced that transit alone will solve the problem. The corridor serves drivers from beyond Maryland, functioning as a national road that brings vehicles to Washington from the Northwest. “It’s not just for commuting, taking the bus,” she said.