An updated version of the Purple Line’s proposed Campus Drive alignment may reinvigorate negotiations between the university and the Maryland Transit Administration.
The newest proposal, which the MTA recently presented to the College Park City Council, removes railings and landscaping along Campus Drive to give the area a more open feel, addressing university President Dan Mote’s concerns about the project’s aesthetic effects on the campus.
Mike Madden, the MTA’s Purple Line project manager, said he thinks the slight modifications to the Campus Drive plan will make the route more palatable to the university. Following advice from the university’s architecture school, key parts of the line will now have a more open “plaza-style” feel that should alleviate officials’ concerns that the MTA wanted to put up fences along Campus Drive.
“We’ve now tried to show them that you can have a very wide-open pedestrian plaza design. You don’t need any walls along Campus Drive,” Madden said. He attributed previous conflicts to a misunderstanding of the MTA’s original renderings of the project.
Mote said the new proposal could be a step in the right direction.
“We’re looking for an assurance that, in the long term, we can maintain an open, pedestrian-friendly environment,” he said.
The new proposal’s lack of fences would make it easier for pedestrians to cross Campus Drive, addressing Mote’s fear that the Purple Line would divide the campus in two. But running the trains down Campus Drive could still affect research in the physics and other science buildings because of vibrations and magnetic fields, Mote said.
Vice President for Administrative Affairs Doug Duncan agreed the changes made were an improvement over earlier proposals.Madden said he has never met with Mote – a staunch opponent of the previous Campus Drive alignment – and that lack of communication has complicated negotiations. Madden was surprised by the intensity of Mote’s opposition.
“I’m not going to destroy the campus to get the Purple Line,” Mote said in an interview earlier this week.
But Mote also struck a conciliatory tone, conceding that a Campus Drive alignment could be possible – just not the last proposed one.
“I haven’t seen a plan on Campus Drive that would work,” he said.
Madden said the line would still be safe for pedestrians despite the lack of fences.
“I don’t think it’s a problem, one or another. It’s really not a pedestrian safety issue. You may not want to have the same pedestrian open-plaza everywhere on Campus Drive, but certainly in front of the Stamp Student Union and other main pedestrian crossings,” he said.
Mote also said he would not compromise on the Purple Line for the sake of securing federal funding, which Duncan said is needed to complete the project.
Although every major student group on the campus – the Student Government Association, the Graduate Student Government and the Residence Halls Association – has announced its support for the Campus Drive alignment, Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot said the federal Department of Transportation would be turned off by the argument and be less inclined to allocate funds for the Purple Line.
“I have great respect for Dr. Mote, but the decision ought to be made now – or yesterday, frankly – to go down Campus Drive,” Franchot said. “What happens with these big projects is well-intentioned objections become huge obstacles. This project is pivotal to this region. It needs to be built now. It’s possible to get the federal funding in ’09 if we have a coordinated strategy. Everyone should be focused on Washington and Annapolis as far as the budget and should stop this squabbling over the route.”
Although Franchot said Mote’s stance could threaten federal funding, Rob Goodspeed, who has studied federal funding of transportation and is a co-founder of the blog Rethink College Park, said it was unlikely Mote’s opposition to the Campus Drive alignment would jeopardize federal support.
“President Mote’s opinion, if anything, will play a small role,” Goodspeed said.
He also said concerns elsewhere in the state overshadow the arguments on the campus. Residents of Silver Spring, Bethesda and Chevy Chase have expressed concerns about the route, as have members of the Columbia Country Club.
“From a larger perspective, this is really a minor debate,” Goodspeed said of the university’s internal disagreements.
Franchot acknowledged that College Park is only a small part of the whole project, but he said all the small issues will eventually come to hinder the entire project’s success.
“At some point, quibbling about the route becomes opposition to the whole project,” he said.
Senior staff writer Megan Eckstein contributed to this report. robillarddbk@gmail.com
