Friday, February 22, 2013
The tower would be used in emergencies to clear the Purple Line tunnel of smoke, according to a planning staff memo.
The Maryland Transit Administration is proposing a 92-foot ventilation tower be placed in popular Woodmont Plaza as part of an emergency ventilation system for the planned Purple Line, according to a county planning staff memo. The memo provides a series of updates on how the planned, 16-mile light rail and re-constructed Capital Crescent Trail would mesh with surrounding communities in Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Silver Spring. The memo was prepared for a Montgomery County Planning Board briefing set for Feb. 28. The $2.2 billion project is in early design stages, but not yet fully funded. The proposed location of the tower in the heavily used public plaza is "not ideal," planning staff wrote, though there are "many ways that MTA can …
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Police search for man who a female jogger said resembled an attacker on the trail last year.
Update, 3:50 p.m.: After a search of the Capital Crescent Trail, Second District officers did not find the man reported to resemble the composite sketch of a suspect in a sexual assault case on the trail last October, according to a police spokeswoman. Original post, 12:28 p.m.: A man resembling a police sketch of a man who sexually assaulted a woman on the Capital Crescent Trail last year was reported on the trail this morning, according to Montgomery County police. A woman jogging on the trail reported seeing the man, according to police spokeswoman Angela Cruz. Second District Police responded to the trail to search for the man, Cruz said. It wasn't clear where on the trail the man was spotted. The second district includes Bethesda and…
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Trail users will no longer be detoured near the construction site.
The Capital Crescent Trail has re-opened on its original path near the Lot 31 construction site, according to the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center. Trail users were being detoured around the original path as construction crews worked to complete an overhead protection structure on the trail. Now that the overhead strucure has been completed, trail users can once again use the original path. Seeding and mulching alongside the trail has also been completed.
Monday, December 31, 2012
The graffiti of a swastika has been removed and police are investigating, officials said.
A swastika that was spray painted over the weekend on the Capital Crescent Trail near Elm Street in Bethesda has been removed, according to officials. A photo of the hate graffiti was posted by a Patch reader Saturday on the Bethesda Patch Facebook page. The graffiti was decried by commenters on the Facebook thread, who called the graffiti upsetting and hateful. “This is both entirely unacceptable and shameful to see in a supposedly enlightened community,” wrote Patch reader Carolyn Elefant via Facebook. Ken Hartman, Bethesda-Chevy Chase regional services center director, told Patch the graffiti would be removed by the Bethesda Urban Partnership. Montgomery County police would also investigate, Hartman said. “Sadly, we often find the …
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Station at Wisconsin and Elm Street will be built in conjunction with Red Line Metro south entrance.
Maryland Transit Administration officials on Tuesday unveiled new renderings for the Bethesda station on the Purple Line, a 16-mile light rail planned to connect Bethesda with New Carrollton. The new designs include a five to seven foot sidewalk alongside the light rail through the Wisconsin Avenue tunnel. The sidewalk option was developed after Montgomery County Council members determined it would be too expensive and too risky to route the Capital Crescent Trail above the light rail inside the tunnel. Instead, council members chose to support an option to route the trail at grade across Wisconsin Avenue. “I know it’s a disappointment to people but I think the sidewalk at least gives them an option,” said Mike Madden, MTA Purple Line …
Monday, December 17, 2012
Group meets with MTA officials Tuesday.
The Maryland Transit Administration is planning a Tuesday neighborhood work group focused on the planned Purple Line's Bethesda station. MTA officials will present current plans for the station and ask residents for their feedback. “The Purple Line team will present this information, but our hope is to have an informal setting that will allow for an open dialogue about the Bethesda station and the surrounding area,” wrote MTA in an announcement. Bethesda's Purple Line station is planned to be constructed in conjunction with a new south entrance to Bethesda's Red Line Metro station, MTA officials have said. The new entrance would add a total of six high-speed elevators between the street level at Wisconsin Avenue and Elm Street, the Red …
Friday, November 2, 2012
Detectives are asking anyone who may recognize the man pictured in the sketch to contact police.
Montgomery County police detectives have released a composite sketch of a suspect in an Oct. 21 sex assault on the Capital Crescent Trail. Police said a 21-year-old woman was knocked unconscious, dragged into the woods and possibly sexually assaulted after jogging on the trail between MacArthur Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue. In releasing the sketch Friday, police described the suspect as a white male with a thin build and a pale complexion, about six feet tall, with short, brown hair. Police said a white male was seen riding a bicycle in the area and may have information regarding the case. They also released a sketch of a bicycle similar to the one that was seen. Police are asking anyone who may know the man pictured in the composite…
Friday, October 26, 2012
Stabbing was not another random attack, police say.
A scuffle between homeless men led to a stabbing on the Capital Crescent Trail Friday afternoon, according to Montgomery County Police. Three men, who are known to police, got into a physical altercation, according to police spokeswoman Officer Britta Thomas. One man was stabbed and another was injured. The third man, whom police named as a suspect, fled on foot and was taken into custody a short time later by police. The stabbing happened near the intersection of Woodmont and Bethesda avenues, near Bethesda Row. A portion of the trail is blocked near the intersection, Thomas said. Concerns about safety on the trail have been heightened in the wake of three robberies and assaults near the Wisconsin Avenue tunnel and a recent sexual assault…
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Maryland-National Capital Park Police officers are patrolling the trail at least five extra times a day since a woman was assaulted Oct. 21.
Maryland-National Capital Park Police are stepping up patrols on a six-mile stretch of the Capital Crescent Trail after a woman was assaulted on the trail Oct. 21. The woman said she was jogging on the trail between Massachusetts Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard in Bethesda when she stopped to allow deer to pass. She was struck on the head from behind, and awoke in the woods a short time later, Montgomery County police said. The woman said she believed she may have been sexually assaulted, according to police. Maryland-National Capital Park Police have stepped up patrols for three miles on each side of the incident site, according to Lt. Bill Kellogg, a park police spokesman. The “directed patrol” spans more than half of the 11-mile trail, …
Monday, October 22, 2012
Second District police officers responded on the trail Sunday evening.
Update, 9:35 a.m.: A 21-year-old woman told police she was knocked unconscious, dragged into the woods and possibly sexually assaulted while she was jogging on the Capital Crescent Trail Sunday evening. Police responded at the trail around 7:13 p.m., according to police spokeswoman Angela Cruz. The woman said she had been jogging on the trail near the 4900 block of Brookeway Drive in Bethesda, between Massachusetts Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard, when she stopped to allow deer to pass. That’s when she said she was struck in the head from behind and knocked unconscious, Cruz said. The woman awoke in the woods a short time later and was able to return to the trail and call for help. A jogger helped her to the 4900 block of Brookeway Drive…
Robert Posner
10:24 am on Thursday, February 28, 2013
If the PL is to serve Prince George County and has little benefit for residents stretching from Silver Spring to Bethesda, why not terminate the PL in Silver Spring? The Crescent Trail would remain as an urban linear park and the PL would effectively serve riders travelling east to west, although the East West Highway has seen very little increase in traffic. The PL, since it uses the trail right… more ›