Home  Blog MDOT Moves Ahead on New Forest Glen Metro Entrance
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MDOT Moves Ahead on New Forest Glen Metro Entrance |
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When MDOT announced its new capital budget, the agency included a development and evaluation plan for Georgia Avenue between 16th Street and the Beltway. But MDOT did not include the Georgia-Forest Glen intersection or the new Forest Glen Metro entrance in this plan, thereby ignoring the interests of Metro station pedestrians who have to cross the infamous Intersection of Death.
Senator Rich Madaleno and the District 18 delegation protested the decision in a letter to Maryland Transportation Secretary John Porcari (below). MDOT responded by expanding the Georgia Avenue study to include the Forest Glen intersection and also announced a separate concept study on the new Metro entrance. See this article in the Gazette for the whole story. This represents a substantial victory for Senator Madaleno, his District 18 delegation, and thousands of District 18 residents. We thank our state legislators as well as County Council Transportation & Environment Chair Nancy Floreen, who offered us invaluable support in our time of need.
Below is the letter that turned everything around in our favor:
January 21, 2008
The Honorable John D. Porcari, Secretary
Maryland Department of Transportation
7201 Corporate Center Drive
Hanover, MD 21076
Dear Secretary Porcari:
Over the past eighteen months, the District 18 delegation has worked to secure funding for the east-entrance to the Forest Glen Metro Station in Silver Spring. As a result of the successful efforts during the special session to increase funding for transportation, we had expected that this project would be included in the 2008 Consolidated Transportation Plan. While we are very pleased to see the significant investment the state is making in Montgomery County, we were surprised and disappointed that the plan did not include and funding for the new entrance.
This oversight occurred even though Montgomery County has listed the project as its number two transit priority. This partially reflects the fact that more citizens show up at our annual Montgomery County Delegation Priorities Hearings to discuss this issue than the Purple Line or the ICC combined. It was our hope and expectation that the County's ranking would make it a priority for the State as well.
Despite this unexpected setback, the project remains our top priority, and we would like to keep it moving forward.
We were pleased to see that the state will be studying the Georgia Avenue corridor from 16th Street to the Capital Beltway. In light of the lack of progress on the new Forest Glen entrance, we encourage the State Highway Administration to expand this study area a mere twenty feet to the intersection with Forest Glen Road. We believe such a change would allow the Department of Transportation to further study the accessibility of the Forest Glen Metro Station. As you know the Forest Glen Road/Georgia Avenue intersection experiences significant congestion during peak rush hours, and pedestrians attempting to enter or exit the station are forced to brave this traffic. It is our belief that including this intersection within the scope of the study would give your department a more accurate estimate of the entrance cost.
Alternatively, as you indicated in a conversation with Senator Madaleno, we could request that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit authority conduct a feasibility study on the project and that state funds are potentially avalailable for such a study. If this remains a viable way to achieve our objective, we would appreciate your further guidance on initiating this request if you cannot modify the Georgia Avenue corridor study.
Please let us know how we can work with you to continue moving this priority project forward. It is of critical importance to several of the communities we represent.
Sincerely,
Richard S. Madaleno, Jr.
Senator
Ana Sol Gutierrez
Delegate
Jeff Waldstreicher
Delegate
Alfred C. Carr
Delegate |
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