Sharing the Trail

There are over 10,000 uses of the Interim Capital Crescent Trail just east of the Bethesda Tunnel each week. The "Save the Trail" advocates throw that fact out at every opportunity to support their claim the Interim CCT is too valuable a public resource to be compromised by sharing with Purple Line transit. But if you look at the numbers more closely, a different story emerges.

The over 10,000 counted weekly uses of the Interim CCT comes from a trail traffic survey done in 2006 and reported by the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail at CCCT survey. The chart above shows that the 10,000 weekly uses on the Interim CCT was counted at Elm Street Park, near the Bethesda end of the Interim CCT. But this is only about 1/2 of the weekly uses seen on the permanent, paved CCT (Georgetown, Brookeway, and Bethesda Ave.) This strongly suggests that the Interim CCT is now only being used at about 1/2 of its potential at its Bethesda end. Interim CCT weekly uses at Grubb Road, near Rock Creek, is a small fraction of the Interim CCT use at Bethesda.

The trail survey shows that the Interim CCT has not come close to reaching its potential. If the Interim CCT is paved, is completed through Silver Spring neighborhoods, and is connected to the Silver Spring Transit Center and to the Metropolitan Branch Trail, then use of the CCT in Silver Spring will increase to levels similar to that seen in Bethesda.

Another set of numbers need to be considered in any discussion of how to get the highest public use of this trail corridor. MTA released its most recent ridership estimates for the Purple Line during May public workshops. MTA now estimates that as many as 13,000 riders will board Purple Line light rail at the proposed Bethesda station every day. More people would use the Purple Line station in the Bethesda tunnel each day than now use the Interim CCT in the tunnel in a whole week. MTA estimates there will be as many as 68,000 daily boardings on the 16 mile long Purple Line system.

So what point are "Save the Trail" advocates trying to make when they throw out the "over 10,000" weekly uses as though it is a huge number? That is a small number compared to how many would use the CCT east of Bethesda if it were completed. It is a tiny number compared to the number who would benefit from better transit alongside the trail in this corridor.

I assert in the Keeping it in Balance first post on this blog that the Purple Line must be sold on its merits overall, and not just to enable us to finish the trail. But the Purple Line should also not be stopped just to enable the 10,000 weekly trail uses to remain as they are now at Bethesda. The CCT would not exist today had the council not voted in 1988 to purchase the right-of-way for the rail line. It is fair to ask the 10,000 to share the trail.