Met Branch Trail: DPWT recommends no bridge no tunnel

While it appears that things are going well with the District's portion of the Metropolitan Branch Trail, the news is not so good in Maryland. As covered so well at the Silverspringtrails.org website,

Montgomery County DPWT has released the report describing the results of their Phase I design study for the 0.6 mile section of the Metropolitan Branch Trail between the Silver Spring Transit Center and Montgomery College at Takoma Park. The report recommendations go against the public input from two public workshops that strongly support "Option 1" with a new trail bridge over Georgia Avenue and a trail tunnel under East-West Highway. A decisive Planning Board review is tentatively scheduled for May 18.

Instead they're recommending Option 5, the "no bridge, no tunnel" option that would create an at-grade crossing at East-West highway and force cyclists to dismount and walk their bikes across the narrow pedestrian walkway over Georgia Avenue. I hate to just copy and paste, but the sie has it covered so well:

The chief reason DPWT gives for favoring Option 5 over Option 1 is cost. Yet DPWT does not give any cost estimates in the Phase I report, and that information will not be developed until the Phase II study. Therefore DPWT is asking the Planning Board and the public to make a decision now to abandon the preferred Option I because of cost, even though the cost information needed for an informed decision will not be available until the next phase of the study.

We should urge the Planning Board to consider another approach - to take Option 1 into the Phase II study, and to develop a phased construction plan if the Phase II study affirms the costs are too high to build the entire Option 1 immediately. This approach will develop the cost information essential for an informed decision, and will also provide options to spread the cost out over time if necessary.

A very logical phasing of Option 1 construction would be:
1) Build the trail Option 1 from the Silver Spring Transit Center south to Georgia Ave., INCLUDING THE NEW TRAIL BRIDGE OVER GEORGIA AVENUE.
2) IF cost and right-of-way issues make the tunnel under East-West Highway too difficult to build now, then complete the trail connection on an alignment similar to Option 5, but WITH AN ON ROAD BIKE ROUTE DOWN PHILADELPHIA AVENUE.
3) Complete Option 1 when funding becomes available and/or when opportunities occur with redevelopment in Fenton Village.

Steps 1) and 2) above would create a much better trail than the Option 5 trail, even if funds never become available to complete the third step. The trail would include a good bridge over Georgia Avenue, and would not waste scarce trail resources building a totally disfunctional "sidepath from hell" down Philadelphia Avenue.

DCist discussed the Met Branch Trail today as part of it's transit on Earth Day items, but they seem unaware of the construction going on north of New York Avenue and fail to mention the battle being fought in Silver Spring.