FOOTBALL PREVIEW
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A breakdown of all 30 Montgomery County teams, preseason rankings and features. B-1
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PurpleLine IN THE PATH OF THE
SOUNDING OFF
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
A2020Vision
WOODSIDE/16TH STREET STATION, 9:07 A.M. “It doesn’t make sense, to put all this in jeopardy for nothing,” said Babou Jobateh, as he stood outside the
Jerry’s Subs he has owned for six years. Jobateh said he worked at the store for 20 years, until he had saved enough money to take out a loan and buy the franchise. He is there from open until close, seven days a week, and is hoping the Purple Line turns out to be just talk.
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Austin Lee, owner of Spring Discount Beer & Wine on 16th Street in Silver Spring, will have to find another location when the Spring Center is demolished to make way for one of the Purple Line stations.
A virtual ride
n 16-MILE
LIGHT RAIL LINE WILL LINK BETHESDA WITH NEW CARROLLTON BY JAMIE
T
ANFENSON-COMEAU AND KARA ROSE STAFF WRITERS
he Purple Line has been on the books in Maryland for decades, but as 2020 looms, Purple Line planners and Montgomery County residents are hammering out the nitty-gritty details of exactly what this $2.2 billion light rail line will look like. The 16-mile line, which will link Bethesda with New Carrollton, will cross parts of both Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, linking up with Metro stops and MARC train stations. The $2.2 billion price tag is
to be divided among federal, state and local governments. The U.S. and Maryland governments each are expected to contribute about $900 million, and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties are expected to provide the remainder, said Leif Dormsjo, Maryland’s deputy secretary for transportation. State officials recently announced that $680 million was earmarked from the recently raised fuel tax for the project. The state also is pursuing a public-private partnership to help defray its costs. Besides being responsible for designing, constructing, operating and
See PURPLE, Page A-11
BY KARA ROSE, AGNES BLUM AND MARLENA CHERTOCK STAFF WRITERS
MTA RENDERING
A Purple Line light rail car pulls into the Bethesda station, as envisioned by the Maryland Transit Administration.
ONLINE
n For an interactive map of the Purple Line and more stories about the project, go to www.gazette.net/purpleline.
Bradley Hills Elementary open after makeover New smartboards and 15 new classrooms n
BY AGNES BLUM STAFF WRITER
Parents and children packed the halls of the newly renovated Bradley Hills Elementary School in Bethesda during its open house Friday. The smell of fresh paint hinted at the $17 million renovations that had been completed in time for the new school year. Inside, both returning students and new ones explored the much-enlarged and technologically buffed-up elementary school.
NEWS
SAFETY FIRST
The Montgomery County Security Team met Friday to prepare for the new school year.
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25 cents
The original building has been expanded with a two-story addition and an additional 15 classrooms, which replaced the portable classrooms that had been used to handle an overflow of students. The school, which had a capacity for 342 students, was bursting at the seams with 508 students before the renovations. During the renovations last year, students attended school at the Radnor Center off River Road. Now the capacity is 638 students, according to county documents, and there are currently 585 students enrolled. That additional capacity
See MAKEOVER, Page A-14
The Purple Line is a $2.2 billion light rail project that will cross 16 miles to connect Bethesda and New Carrollton, passing through many communities along the way. Take a virtual morning ride on the transit line from Bethesda to Takoma Park to see the project’s impact on Montgomery County. Bethesda Station, 9 a.m.
The Purple Line station will be at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Elm Street, just outside the Regal Bethesda movie theater. Stairs or a high-speed
Temporary fixes in place since 2003 study BY
SYLVIA CARIGNAN STAFF WRITER
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Bradley Hills Elementary School first-grade students Othilie Le Cannu (second from right) and Laura Gine-Vega check out cubbies as their 4-year-old brothers Ephrem Le Cannu (left) and David Gine-Vega and parents (not pictured) tour the renovated school during Friday’s orientation.
50 YEARS LATER: A MARCH TO CELEBRATE
County residents remember the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
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Automotive Calendar Celebrations Classified Community News Entertainment Opinion School News Sports Please
RECYCLE
See RIDE, Page A-11
Metro seeks solution for leaky Red Line tunnel n
NEWS
elevator will lead to the platform. The drop is too steep to allow for escalators. Trains will run every six minutes during peak hours, and 10 to 12 minutes during off-peak hours. As the above-ground train travels west toward Silver Spring, riders will be able to watch cyclists and runners on the adjacent 16-foot-wide Georgetown Branch Trail extension of the Capital Crescent Trail, separated from the rails by a fence. Formerly a freight rail line run by CSX, the line was purchased by Montgomery County in 1988 and preserved as a hikerbiker trail until it could be converted for future rail use.
Metro is seeking a solution to an age-old problem for Red Line stations in Montgomery County. Since the construction of the underground stations, water has infiltrated through bedrock cracks and into the transit system. Though drainage systems were originally built, an excessive amount of water is entering
the 3-mile tunnel between the Medical Center and Friendship Heights stations. Aluminum tents have been attached to leaking cracks in the walls to divert water away from the tracks since at least 2003, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study. Now, with increasing ridership putting pressure on Metro’s maintenance efforts, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is seeking a long-term solution. When the stations were built, three pumping stations
See METRO, Page A-14
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