{"id":3996,"date":"2014-09-26T08:00:05","date_gmt":"2014-09-26T12:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=3996"},"modified":"2014-09-26T09:50:15","modified_gmt":"2014-09-26T13:50:15","slug":"3996","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=3996","title":{"rendered":"Mike Madden on Changes to Bethesda PL Station"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tierra<\/a>Tierra Terrapin is one the characters that promotes
\nthe Purple Line on the Purple Line Kids’ Page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mike Madden, the Project Manager for the Purple Line, was kind enough to answer questions I put to him regarding the revised Bethesda Station in light of the County’s decision not to purchase the APEX Building<\/a>. Here are the questions and answers:<\/em><\/p>\n

Seventh State<\/strong>: First, it is is my understanding that the elevators to the PL and Red Line will now need to be on Elm Street. Can you tell me how much width do you currently think will be left on the sidewalk after the placement of the elevators? Are there any other measures that MTA or the County plan to take to facilitate the ease of movement pedestrians and cyclists through this area?<\/p>\n

Mike Madden:<\/strong> First let me explain that there will only be two elevators on Elm Street itself. The other four elevators will be in the area of the Purple Line station and elevator lobby area (which is one level below the street). The other four elevators will\u00a0take people down to the Metro Red Line mezzanine.\u00a0 People will also be able to reach the Purple Line station by stairs down to the station from Elm Street, by walking in from Woodmont Ave., and by walking in from the east along the narrow walkway that extends to the Purple Line station and elevator lobby from\u00a0under the Air Rights building.<\/p>\n

The existing sidewalk along Elm Street near Wisconsin is about 12 feet in width, and once\u00a0the two elevators are built, the sidewalk width will remain the same.\u00a0Not using up any of the existing sidewalk width is\u00a0accomplished by extending into what today is a curb lane in which\u00a0the two elevators would be located.\u00a0 For\u00a0this portion of Elm Street, there will be two 11 foot lanes for traffic.<\/p>\n

7S<\/strong>, I read in the paper today that there will be pillars in the station. How many will there be? And how much less area will be available on the platform? Can you also explain to me why riders will now need to cross the tracks?<\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> There are 7 columns within the 200 foot long Purple Line platform. The columns are approximately 2.5′ by 4.5′ oval shaped columns (including\u00a0the architectural wrapping). Typical center platforms are about 15 feet wide but this\u00a0Purple Line platform will be 18 feet wide so that there is\u00a0sufficient\u00a0area on the platforms for passengers.<\/p>\n

In terms of crossing the tracks, this is standard practice for light rail systems throughout the world, including at\u00a0Purple Line stations.\u00a0If a rider is headed to\u00a0the Purple Line station from Woodmont Ave., they would just walk onto the center platform and not have to cross the tracks. The only place where\u00a0patrons would\u00a0be crossing the tracks is at the east of the platform;\u00a0if they are\u00a0transferring from the Purple Line to the Red Line,\u00a0getting off the Red Line and transferring to the Purple Line,\u00a0walking into the station from the east along the narrow walkway, or if they are getting\u00a0off the elevator or stairs from Elm Street to access the Purple Line. \u00a0The crossing of course would be well marked for safe crossings.<\/p>\n

7S<\/strong>: Finally, does the change in plans mean that the tail track on Woodmont Ave. will now need to come back.<\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> The design for the station with the Apex Building remaining in place\u00a0has always required a tail track that would\u00a0extend outside of the existing tunnel no more than 100 feet. However, the trail track would be\u00a0used only in emergency conditions. Trains would not be stored on the tail track under normal operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tierra Terrapin is one the characters that promotes the Purple Line on the Purple Line Kids’ Page. Mike Madden, the Project Manager for the Purple Line, was kind enough to answer questions I put to him regarding the revised Bethesda Station in light of the County’s decision not to purchase the APEX Building. Here are … Continue reading Mike Madden on Changes to Bethesda PL Station<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[1039,1623,1047],"class_list":["post-3996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-purple-line","tag-apex-building","tag-bethesda","tag-mike-madden"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s4mKJE-3996","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3996"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4003,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3996\/revisions\/4003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}