Purple: The New Green

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) has come out in support of the controversial Purple Line.

This move offers an opposing view to the Save the Trail organization which has been very vocal along the Capital Crescent Trail (CCT) through Bethesda.

Save the Trail states the Purple line, as it is proposed, will destroy the heavily used CCT. Pro CCT activists cite the impact the light rail will have on the environment, the neighborhoods, and the safety of future trail users.

WABA claims that supporting the Purple Line will not only save the trail but also improve it. WABA stresses the importance of completing the Bicycle Beltway around the District of Columbia.

The CCT is an eleven mile paved multi-use trail that runs from Bethesda to Georgetown. In a 2007 survey report completed by the CCT Coalition, the estimated weekly users topped 23,000 at the Bethesda location.

The trail connects with the Georgetown Branch Trail east of the Air Rights tunnel that runs under Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda. This section of the interim CCT is crushed gravel. A completed trail would connect with downtown Silver Spring.

In the 2007 survey, the Coalition found trail use dropped significantly at this unpaved section of the trail suggesting a need to pave the rest of the trail.

WABA believes that the trail improvements that will come with the Purple Line -- especially the construction of the long-planned segment into downtown Silver Spring and the protected intersection crossings that will come with a light rail line -- make this a win-win project for both trail users and the people who will ride the new transit line.

WABA also points to the proposed Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT) as an example of rails and trails co-existing and providing a valuable tool for reducing traffic congestion in the DC area.
The MBT is a proposed 8-mile multi-use trail that runs from Silver Spring in Maryland to Union Station in DC. Combining these two trails will give bicycle commuters many options into and out of the city.