The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is currently conducting an environmental assessment of the CCT alternative alignments requested by the city of Gaithersburg and Montgomery County.

More meetings are planned this fall when the MTA will conduct public hearings with the hope to submit a locally preferred alternative for the nearly 16-mile route to the transportation secretary and Governor Martin O’Malley by the end of the year. The alternative alignments would still begin at Shady Grove Metro Station and would include additional stops at Crown Farm, Kentlands, the Life Sciences Center area and the Great Seneca Science Corridor. Phase 1 would end at the Metropolitan Grove Station with longer-range plans to extend the route all the way up to Comsat in Germantown.

Proposed alternate alignments would bring the route to the south side of Great Seneca Highway from Muddy Branch Road, traveling past Lakelands Boulevard at grade level, passing the condominiums at Kentlands Bluff, and making a stop at a station located near the present location of Lowes at the intersection of Main Street and Great Seneca.

The locally preferred alternative would need approval to move into the preliminary engineering phase, said Rick Kiegel, project manager with MTA during an informational meeting at the Lakelands Clubhouse.

Lakelands resident Ned McGowan had plenty of questions for Kiegel including how sound buffers will be placed and what the impact will be on trees in the wooded preserve along Great Seneca.

McGowan pushed for the meeting and believes it’s important to keep asking questions. “We need the community to get up to speed,” he said.

Another big question is what exactly will the CCT be? Light rail or bus transit? Pointing out pros and cons of both systems, Kiegel said Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is the more economical choice, at least for the capital costs. MTA estimates the capital costs of Light Rail Transit (LRT) for the alternative alignment to be $999.01 for LRT compared to $532.63 million for BRT.

Those numbers didn’t add up for Kentlands resident Ellie Shaw-Belblidia, who said it was an unfair comparison to only include capital costs. “Wouldn’t the operating costs and replacement costs for BRT would be higher?” she asked.

According to Kiegel the average life span of an LRT car is 40 to 50 years with some rebuilding compared to a 10-year average life span for a bus.

Also not factored into the numbers presented at the meeting was the economic impact for both residential and commercial real estate in the area.

Kentlands resident Dick Arkin believes LRT to be the more desirable choice and questioned why economic impact is not factored into the data. “It should be a factor,” he said.

As MTA continues its data gathering, Kiegel said it’s important to note that the project is not yet funded beyond the preliminary engineering phase in FY 2014.

Andy Inkeles, president of the Lakelands Community Association, urged Kentlands and Lakelands residents and homowners’ associations to work together to create a bigger voice that represents what area residents want.

Inkeles said he will reach out to other neighboring communities including Quince Orchard Park, Lakelands Ridge and Washingtonian Woods for future meetings. “This is an election year; we’re powerful and we can have an influence.”

By the end of the year MTA officials hope to complete the analysis, gather public comment and submit a locally preferred alternative to the Transportation Secretary and Governor Martin O’Malley for approval to move into the preliminary engineering phase.

Read the full story in the July 20 edition of The Town Courier.