Correction appened
A university vice president trashed the state’s plan for the Purple Line transitway at a College Park City Council meeting Tuesday night, leaving council members caught in the middle as students joined the fray.
Though the meeting was expected to be informational, a Maryland Transit Administration official clashed with Vice President of Administrative Affairs Doug Duncan over the campus master plan, a document created to guide future development on the campus. Duncan has repeatedly cited the plan’s pedestrian-friendly guidelines as the reason Purple Line should not travel along Campus Drive.
College Park Mayor Stephen Brayman was forced to mediate the dispute, which centered on whether the Purple Line would keep Campus Drive a pedestrian-friendly thoroughfare once the road is closed to all vehicles except Shuttle-UM.
Duncan and MTA officials argued over whether which route would be convenient for students, with a stop near Stamp Student Union, and cut overall commute times. University officials have proposed an alternative route that would follow Stadium Drive or another less central route for safety and aesthetic reasons.
Duncan called the MTA’s assertion that the Campus Drive proposal would not disrupt pedestrian traffic near the center of campus “straight-up misleading.”
“The Campus alignment is contradictory to the master plan,” he said, rising out of his chair. “I’m sorry [the MTA] keeps saying otherwise.”
MTA consultant Joel Oppenheimer countered that the master plan calls for a Campus Drive free of cars but not necessarily public transportation.
Duncan approached a shouting match with Oppenheimer until Mayor Stephen Brayman suggested that “you’re both right” and that it was time to move on.
Duncan spent much of the rest of the meeting in his seat with his arms crossed, and at one point refused to answer a question from city staff.
Graduate Student Government President Laura Moore, an ardent advocate for the Campus Drive route, added to the debate.
“If you hear the administration’s message on this, Campus Drive is a pristine meadow and the Purple Line is a steam locomotive,” she said. “I think that the Campus Drive alignment is very positive for pedestrian access and for bicycles.”
But Duncan said that the idea of trains running through the center of campus goes against the university’s principle of “pedestrians first,” a concern that may not have been alleviated by the MTA presentation.
The traffic problem on Campus Drive is “not too many cars, it’s too many pedestrians,” said Mike Madden, the MTA’s Purple Line project manager.
But for all the MTA’s difficult questions and spirited debate, Madden was able to answer at least one question easily and confidently to the satisfaction of all present, when District 2 councilman Jack Perry interrupted the presentation.
“Now, what does ‘MTA’ stand for?,” Perry asked.
holtdbk@gmail.com
