Why
We Need to Build the South Entrance
to the Bethesda Metro Now - Part 2
The cost of this project
is $60 million. Metro has completed
planning and preliminary design studies. Click
here for the Study Summary,
Study Main
Text, and the Appendices.
So far, the County has appropriated $5 million which
covers the costs of design and preparation of bid
documents.
The new entrance will make
the Red Line much more accessible to downtown
Bethesda. The number of dwelling units within ¼ mile
of a station entrance will increase by 68%, and the
number of jobs will grow by 11%. Even without the
Purple Line, this entrance would attract 700
additional daily trips on the Red Line at Bethesda by
2030. In addition, 9000 daily trips by people who
would use the Red Line anyway will be faster because
the new entrance will be closer to them.
The south entrance will
also relieve congestion on the escalators that connect
the train platform to the mezzanine of the existing
Bethesda station entrance. If the new entrance is not
constructed, congestion on the escalators will reach
unacceptable levels as ridership increases over the
next ten years, and a new stairway or escalator will
have to be built. A second entrance will also
make the station safer by providing a way out if an
emergency were to block the north entrance.
Passengers will take
high-speed elevators down to the Red Line, as they do
at Forest Glen and at the south end of Friendship
Heights. When the Purple Line is built, the elevators
will make a third stop in the tunnel under Wisconsin
to provide the connection between the Purple Line and
the Red Line.
The Bethesda south
entrance was in the county Master Plan long before the
Purple Line. The station was built with “knock-out”
panels to facilitate adding a south entrance.
Even before it connects
with the Purple Line, the Bethesda south entrance is
comparable in cost-effectiveness to other transit
investments being made in our region:
9000 trips × 0.1 hr/trip = 900 hours saved per day
$60 million/900 = $66,700 per daily hour saved
This is twice as cost-effective as the Phase 1 Dulles
Metrorail Extension which will save 17,800 hours per
day at a cost of at least $2.6 billion:
$2.6 billion/17,800 = $146,100 per daily hour saved
