Key Issues – Purple Line
SAFETY
- It is unsafe to run 50 MPH trains where children play and walk to school
- Four schools are within one block of the Capital Crescent Trail between Bethesda and Silver Spring
ENVIRONMENTAL DEVASTATION
- Clear-cutting an existing 20-acre park inside the Beltway is unacceptable in this age of environmental consciousness
- Air pollution will increase inside the Beltway because the Purple Line means more electrical generation from coal and the destruction of thousands of trees that currently capture greenhouse gases
- Water pollution into the Chesapeake Bay will increase with the loss of signficant stormwater runoff now absorbed by forest land
- Noise pollution for area residents will increase due to loss of tree canpoy and trains running every three minutes
TRAFFIC WILL GET WORSE
- Contingent on the Purple Line are large scale commercial and residential developments adding tens of thousands of cars inside the Beltway on already congested roads
- 80% of riders are expected to come from existing mass transit according to Purple Line planners – cars won’t be taken off the roads
- We want transportation plans that focus on traffic reduction not development
DEMAND TRANSPORTATION THAT MAKES SENSE!
- Fix Metro first!
- $1.9 billion for the Purple Line is an estimate based on early designs and will likely increase significantly. Ask our elected officials – “What else could this money buy?”
- Operations and maintenance will add millions of dollars to the real cost of the Purple Line cost
- Taxpayers will foot the bill for the difference between fares and the real cost to operate the system
