WASHINGTON –The temperatures were about to peak in the 90’s when a pack of perspiring planners rolled up to a water break along the Georgetown Branch section of the Capital Crescent Trail. It was part of a view masterminded by Montgomery County Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson.
Anderson plotted a course that took members of his planning staff from their downtown Silver Spring offices, to a site along the proposed Purple Line in Laytonsville to Bethesda. The end point would be the aging Westbard Shopping Center off of River Road, a site Anderson says is “ripe for development”. But as that development is plotted on paper, Anderson wants to make room for all kinds of ways to get where they are going, including by bike.
When he started bike commuting in Montgomery County back in 2005, Anderson says he was met with some hostility.
“At least once a week, if not two or three times a week, someone would yell at me out of their car window ‘Get back on the sidewalk! You don’t belong here!’ That never happens to me anymore. Never. ” Anderson says that’s just one of the small signs that commuting patterns are changing.
One change he wants to make room for is the Purple Line, the 18 mile light rail project designed to bring riders from Bethesda to New Carrollton. There are new signs that Maryland Governor Larry Hogan may yet be open to the project, but that won’t be known for a few weeks. Anderson is optimistic. “Whatever happens in the next few weeks, I think this project will be built one way or the other. ” Anderson sees the east-west commuter line as a must-have, not a nice-to-have feature in the down-county area. “Eventually it will be built and it will continue to be a top priority for the county.”
As for the bike ride Anderson was hosting? The ride was hot, but the frequent water breaks helped. Roberto Duke, a member of the Montgomery County Planning staff, said the ride helped highlight where better links could be made for cyclists and pedestrians. His preferred strategy is to stick to trails: “It’s good to be able to commute by bike, and the bike trails are important.” Creating safer, more user-friendly links from trails to street riding is one of the thing the team was looking at.
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
