Thursday, August 29, 2019

Purple Line construction ramps up at Silver Spring Metro station (Video+Photos)

Construction operations for the future Purple Line light rail are ramping up by the Silver Spring Transit Center. Heavy equipment is already in place on the plaza that, like the transit center, was once set aside for the unbuilt North-Central Freeway through downtown Silver Spring.

Crews will be working on the plaza adjacent to the transit center seven nights a week during the month of September. Work hours are 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM.






12 comments:

  1. "Once set aside for the unbuilt North-Central Freeway through downtown Silver Spring."

    No it wasn't.

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    1. 12:26: Yes, it was. And WMATA was quite glad to receive it and other corridors all over the region, thanks to the morons who "led" the various jurisdictions that voted to cancel the freeways to intentionally create gridlock for their developer sugar daddies.

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  2. "Proposed", yes. "Set aside", no. No land was acquired other than what was needed for construction of the Red Line. You can tell because there are many old buildings right next to the tracks. And demolition of the buildings along the north side of the tracks between Colesville Road and 16th Street for the Purple Line, would not have been needed if this land had been taken for the "North-Central Freeway".

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    1. 1:12: Incorrect - the land was given over to WMATA after the freeways were removed from master plans. You can see all the public parks and government facilities within the rights of way in Silver Spring, Bethesda, etc. that clearly prove they were acquired and set aside for the roads.

      The Green Line around Fort Totten is using the Northeast Freeway/I-95 right-of-way, as another good example.

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    2. There are no "public parks" along the tracks in Silver Spring. The only "government facility" is the NOAA offices, which replaced a string of car dealerships that used to line East-West Highway.

      Regarding Fort Totten, the park between Galloway and Gallatin Streets NE existed long before the Northwest (and Northeast) Freeways were proposed. The Green Line does NOT follow the path of the proposed Northeast Freeway in Prince George's County, it is about a half-mile to the east of there.

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    3. 12:28: Wrong. I didn't say it follows the path in Prince George's County. I said it used land around Fort Totten that would have otherwise gone to the freeway facility there. Reading skills are a must.

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    4. There are indeed parks on land along the CSX corridor that were placed on the freeway right-of-way. Same thing in Bethesda and other parts of the County.

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    5. The park between Galloway and Gallatin was NOT reserved for the freeway. It was parkland that had existed for several decades previously. The only park along the tracks in Silver Spring is Jessup Blair Park, and that also existed several decades previously.

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    6. The series of parking lots and small parks on the east side of Wisconsin Avenue were not the legacy of a proposed freeway - they are the legacy of a street that was not built. It would have connected Waverly Street and 47th and 46th Streets, forming a north-south street parallel to Wisconsin Avenue on the east side, like Woodmont Avenue on the west side.

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    7. 8:58: Wrong! In fact, Alvin Aubinoe had a protracted battle to construct an office building in the Northwest Freeway right-of-way decades ago.

      Those parks and parking lots are where the freeway would have run in a trench below grade parallel to Wisconsin.

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    8. The office building in question was not in "the Northwest Freeway right-of-way". It was the Wildwood Building on Old Georgetown Road and the controversy was over the zoning of the property.

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    9. 8:34: LOL - You really have a lack of knowledge of this topic. The Aubinoe building was at Waverly and East-West Highway, directly in the right-of-way for the Northwest Freeway.

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