Two Montgomery County lawmakers have asked D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray to extend the District’s planned streetcar system up to the Silver Spring Metro station.
In a letter to County Executive Ike Leggett and Gray, County Council members Hans Riemer and Nancy Floreen, D-at large, have proposed that staffs from Metro, the Maryland Transit Administration, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and the two districts’ departments of transportation “engage in a sketch-planning exercise” to explore the possibility of extending the streetcar from its proposed ending point at the Takoma Metro station to Silver Spring.
In their reasoning, Riemer and Floreen pointed to Silver Spring’s proximity to Metro, MARC rail, 46 bus routes and the proposed Purple Line, as well as the possibility for redevelopment on Georgia Avenue in south Silver Spring.
“We are not under the illusion that this route would come about in the next few years, or even the next decade,” they wrote. “But we think it is important to explore this idea now.”
