CORRECTION: Contrary to the below report, the university and the state have not reached an agreement on a through-campus Purple Line route. For more information on the conflict over the on-campus alignment, please see the updated, corrected story here.
The university and the state may have finally reached an agreement on which route the Purple Line will take through the campus, deciding on a partially underground route that would run down Campus Drive and behind the south side of McKeldin Mall.
The campus route for the Purple Line, a proposed rail system that would connect the outer neighborhoods of the Metro from Bethesda to New Carrollton and link Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, has been controversial for the past four years. The Maryland Transit Administration has long insisted running the trains down Campus Drive would be the most convenient and cost-effective route, while the administration has proposed a variety of other solutions, arguing a Campus Drive alignment would slice the campus in two.
Perhaps ending years of debate, Vice President for Administrative Affairs Ann Wylie announced at yesterday’s University Senate meeting that the MTA had suggested a compromise last month: The line would run above ground on Campus Drive until it reached the Art/Sociology building. The line would then run underground behind Tydings, Francis Scott Key and Marie Mount halls before emerging on the east side of Regents Drive by the Lee Building and continue onto East Campus.
Such a proposal from the MTA is surprising, as the organization has been opposed to an underground rail because it is too expensive and would compromise the entire project. The route is also similar to the Preinkert-Chapel Drive route, which MTA officials had opposed. The transit administration had repeatedly said Campus Drive was optimal because it reaches the pedestrian center of the university and connects to other transit options. MTA officials, including Purple Line Project Manager Mike Madden, couldn’t be reached for comment last night.
Wylie said the Campus Drive and Preinkert-Chapel Drive alignments were basically considered dead, citing the MTA’s decision that the Preinkert-Chapel Drive route wasn’t safe for students.
The new underground line would cost around $23 million, Wylie said. And though where that money would come from remains uncertain, Wylie said this project is one that city and state legislatures are interested in.
“There’s no money for it at the moment,” she said. “But there’s a strong political will for this transit system in the state. More leadership is in favor of the train; it connects communities.”
But Wylie said this option is ideal for many reasons — it’s 600 feet shorter than the Campus Drive proposal and would eliminate about 30 percent of the distance. Moving the line would also protect sensitive research projects that could be affected by an above-ground train’s vibrations.
“This is safer for our pedestrians,” Wylie said. “It protects our research environment. It protects the scenic beauty of our campus, which is one of our greatest aspects. If you ask people when they come here why they come, admissions will tell you that when they visit our campus, they’re hooked. And it’s consistent with our master plan.”
While Wylie highlighted the benefits of this new alignment, some senators still raised questions regarding safety and the need for such an extensive transit system.
“This alignment … addresses many of my concerns,” Provost Nariman Farvardin said. “But I remain extremely concerned with the Campus Drive alignment with respect to safety issues. Sometimes around noon, it takes 10 minutes to drive on Campus Drive from the circle to [Stamp Student Union] not because of vehicular accidents, just because thousands of students are crossing the street at a time, many talking on their cell phones. Cars respect students, slow down and allow them to cross. I worry the Purple Line won’t have that level of patience.”
“What truly is the benefit of having the Purple Line go through campus?” asked arts and humanities senator Denise Best. “We already have the Green Line. We already have a College Park Metro stop. Why can’t it be off campus and connected to the Metro stop that already exists? The impact to our campus is going to be so great. Why would we want to put ourselves in such a tight situation?”
Wylie reiterated that the university had no say in the Purple Line coming through the campus and cited the high crime rates around the Metro stop as an issue with that idea.
Another senator questioned how the line would affect safety on the campus — cars coming onto the university at night are stopped and identified, but it would be hard to regulate who comes and goes onto the campus from the train.
“How is the campus going to ensure campus safety to this stop, since anyone can come on the campus then?” undergraduate senator Brad Nolet asked.
“We are opening up our campus, but we open it up anyways,” Wylie said. “We have Metro buses, and anyone can get off those buses onto the campus. The Purple Line might be a little easier to get on and off … but I don’t subscribe to the idea that the Purple Line would bring a crime problem we can’t manage.”
She said she was sure putting the line down Campus Drive wasn’t feasible after examining a similar situation at the University of Minnesota. Like this university, the University of Minnesota is a major research institution that has brought an electric train onto its campus.
Also like this university, it was told similar stories that the train would stop for pedestrians and campus beauty would be preserved. The University of Minnesota now has a train running through it’s central campus with 42 inch fences on either side to shield pedestrians from its tracks. Several stop lights were placed throughout the campus to direct pedestrians and cars and its central road was closed for two years during construction.
“We can expect exactly the same thing if this is to be our fate,” she said.
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