The Inner Purple Line Will Not Affect the Trail
Between Bethesda and Georgetown

The Capital Crescent Trail is the heavily used paved trail now
running from Bethesda to Georgetown.  This trail will not be
touched by the Purple Line in any way. The Inner Purple Line
will be built on the other side of downtown Bethesda along a
former railroad right-of-way bought by the county 15 years ago.
Had it not been for the plan to build a rail line, the land would
never would have been purchased, and we would have no trail
today.

Bruce Adams, who as a member of the County Council cast the
crucial swing vote to build the interim gravel trail that now goes
through Chevy Chase, writes that "Of course the rail won't destroy
the trail.  From the very beginning, the plan has been to have the
rail and trail side-by-side between Bethesda and Silver Spring.
For trail supporters to attempt to block the rail line by arguing that
it will destroy the trail is just not playing fair."  [Gazette, Feb. 5,
2003]

The Inner Purple Line Will Extend the Trail

When the light rail line is built, the paved trail will extend
east from Wisconsin Ave. as far as the Silver Spring Metro
station, running alongside the new tracks.  The old railroad
right-of-way is 60 - 100 ft. wide in Chevy Chase, leaving room
for two tracks, a trail, and a vegetated buffer between the
transportation facilities and adjoining houses.  The extension of
the paved trail will replace a shorter interim gravel trail,
called the Georgetown Branch Trail, which now goes part way to
Silver Spring.  Instead of stopping to walk across busy highways,
trail users will cross Connecticut Avenue on a bridge and go
under Jones Mill Road through a tunnel.

The Washington Area Bicycle Association has clearly explained
the effect of the Inner Purple Line on the trail: "Claims are being
made by opponents of the Inner Purple Line that the trail will
be destroyed. However, if the design process continues to address
cyclists' needs, the Trail can co-exist with a light rail. The woodsy
character east of Bethesda will be mostly lost, but the section east
of Rock Creek will be vastly improved if current design proposals
are realized."

The former president of the Coalition for the Capital Crescent
Trail, Wayne Phyillaier, has made a detailed analysis of the compatibility of trail and light rail. Phyillaier writes that the allegations that the Inner Purple Line will destroy the trail "are unfounded and are destructive to the goal of completing the CCT [Capital Crescent Trail].  Instead of asking 'Can the CCT be safe to use alongside the Purple Line?', perhaps we should be asking `Can the CCT be safe to use WITHOUT the Purple Line?'."

Who's Behind the "Save the Trail" Myth?

With polls showing overwhelming voter support for the Inner
Purple Line, opponents of the project have adopted the deceptive
tactic of disguising themselves as supporters of hiker-biker
trails and misleading the public about what the Purple Line will
do to trails.

When light rail from Bethesda to Silver Spring was first
proposed in the 1980s, the opponents made no secret that stopping
the transit line was their real objective.  Columbia Country Club
initially proposed turning the railroad right of way adjoining their
golf course into a nature preserve [Wash. Post, 6/13/87].  When that
proposal failed, it filed a lawsuit to take ownership of a portion
of the right of way and prevent construction of any trail past their
property.

The Greater Bethesda Chevy Chase Coalition (GBCCC), the
umbrella group of Purple Line opponents, filed a petition with
the Interstate Commerce Commission to forbid the county to use
the railroad right of way for any purpose except freight railroading
[Wash. Post, 10/18/89].  Had this petition succeeded, we would
have no trail at all -- not in Chevy Chase, and not between
Bethesda and Georgetown.

But when trail and transit supporters prevailed in the
courts and regulatory agencies, the light rail opponents changed
their tune.  The same GBCCC that had tried to stop the trail from
being built invented the slogan "save the trail".  And in 1999,
when they set up a new committee to pay for Annapolis lobbyists,
they had the nerve to call it the Committee to Save the Trail, or
COST.  Reports filed with the State Ethics Commission reveal that
COST's largest source of funding is Columbia Country Club.

The names and slogans were adjusted, but the objective of
stopping needed mass transit did not change.  The State Ethics
Commission requires lobbyists to list clients and state what they
are lobbying on.  COST employed Rifkin, Livingston, Levitan, and
Silver, the lobbying firm that previously represented Columbia
Country Club.  And the purpose of the lobbying was almost the same
as it was when the Country Club was against the trail: "Preserve
and protect the client's interests with respect to matters
affecting the Georgetown Branch Light Rail line and other
transportation projects."  Nothing about trails, bicycles, or
trees.