CORRIDOR CITIES TRANSITWAY MEETING TONIGHT AT 7:00

Corridor Cities Transitway Project Manager Rick Kiegel will host a public meeting tonight in North Potomac at 7:00 PM. The meeting will be at Stone Mill Elementary School, located at 14323 Stonebridge View Road in North Potomac.

The CCT is a transit project that was recently switched from light rail to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Its travel time from Clarksburg to Shady Grove Metro station is estimated to be a sluggish 48 minutes. At that rate, a car in rush hour traffic could beat it there.

Tonight's meeting will discuss the community impacts of the CCT on the North Potomac area, but the route also extends through the City of Rockville. King Farm, in particular, will be impacted by the route.

Only a portion of the full route is being discussed right now, as developers are anxious to qualify for the density at Science City (Belward Farm, etc.) that only the CCT can permit. But with ridership potential now seriously reduced by the decision to switch from rail to bus, its effectiveness in managing the major traffic impacts of the Science City plan is in doubt to say the least.

Even on this short segment, estimated travel times are about three times slower than current automobile travel times. In fact, even the existing, humble Ride On bus beats the CCT between Belward Farm and Shady Grove by a whopping ten minutes! Embarrassing.

What is the justification for this taxpayer boondoggle, other than the financial and political benefits accrued to the developers and the politicians they help get elected to office?