The University of Maryland and the Maryland Transit Administration remain at odds over the Purple Line. One argument that UMD loves to trot out is that the light rail line will turn campus into a maze of tall fences. While MTA fiercely denies that they are planning to install fences, the University of Maryland claims [...]
The Maryland Mass Transit Administration has released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Purple Line. The document, sprawling across 251 pages offers a comprehensive look at the alternatives proposed for the transitway. Running approximately 16 miles from Bethesda in Montgomery County to New Carrollton in Prince George’s County, the line will be either Bus [...]
Maryland’s Mass Transit Administration, the agency in charge of building the Purple Line project will be holding a series of public meetings next month. Make sure you come out to voice your support for this transportation project. Meetings are scheduled for: College Park Wednesday, November 19, 2008 5-9PM UMD Ritchie Coliseum Rossborough Lane & Route [...]
I would think that a fairly obvious aspect of transportation planning is that as convenience increases, so does use. Unfortunately, this lesson is one that apparently needs to be added to the syllabus. As I said last week, the University of Maryland has been fighting the Purple Line for a while. Other universities are making [...]
The Purple Line has sparked much debate across the region, but perhaps the most contentious debate has come from College Park, where the proposed routing would traverse the University of Maryland on Campus Drive. Rethink College Park has weighed in on the issue many many times, and has long supported the Campus Drive alignment preferred [...]
With all the recent discussion about the Purple Line, it seems pertinent to explore the reasons that light rail transit (LRT) is being considered for the UM Campus and the larger Washington region. Before 1972, the term light rail did not exist. It was coined by the Urban Mass Transit Administration (now the Federal Transit [...]
As the East Campus Redevelopment Project moves through the public participation process, it is valuable to look at how other universities have integrated mixed-use facilities into their campuses. This is the second post in that series. In August of 2003, Georgia Tech completed the much anticipated Technology Square project. This redevelopment effort was in keeping [...]
