2008 Woodie Awards
Purple Line redesign may appease admin.
Kevin Robillard and Brady Holt
Issue date: 5/15/08 Section: News
An updated version of the Purple Line's proposed Campus Drive alignment may reinvigorate negotiations between the university and the Maryland Transit Administration.
The newest proposal, which the MTA recently presented to the College Park City Council, removes railings and landscaping along Campus Drive to give the area a more open feel, addressing university President Dan Mote's concerns about the project's aesthetic effects on the campus.
Mike Madden, the MTA's Purple Line project manager, said he thinks the slight modifications to the Campus Drive plan will make the route more palatable to the university. Following advice from the university's architecture school, key parts of the line will now have a more open "plaza-style" feel that should alleviate officials' concerns that the MTA wanted to put up fences along Campus Drive.
"We've now tried to show them that you can have a very wide-open pedestrian plaza design. You don't need any walls along Campus Drive," Madden said. He attributed previous conflicts to a misunderstanding of the MTA's original renderings of the project.
Mote said the new proposal could be a step in the right direction.
"We're looking for an assurance that, in the long term, we can maintain an open, pedestrian-friendly environment," he said.
The new proposal's lack of fences would make it easier for pedestrians to cross Campus Drive, addressing Mote's fear that the Purple Line would divide the campus in two. But running the trains down Campus Drive could still affect research in the physics and other science buildings because of vibrations and magnetic fields, Mote said.
Vice President for Administrative Affairs Doug Duncan agreed the changes made were an improvement over earlier proposals.Madden said he has never met with Mote - a staunch opponent of the previous Campus Drive alignment - and that lack of communication has complicated negotiations. Madden was surprised by the intensity of Mote's opposition.
The newest proposal, which the MTA recently presented to the College Park City Council, removes railings and landscaping along Campus Drive to give the area a more open feel, addressing university President Dan Mote's concerns about the project's aesthetic effects on the campus.
Mike Madden, the MTA's Purple Line project manager, said he thinks the slight modifications to the Campus Drive plan will make the route more palatable to the university. Following advice from the university's architecture school, key parts of the line will now have a more open "plaza-style" feel that should alleviate officials' concerns that the MTA wanted to put up fences along Campus Drive.
"We've now tried to show them that you can have a very wide-open pedestrian plaza design. You don't need any walls along Campus Drive," Madden said. He attributed previous conflicts to a misunderstanding of the MTA's original renderings of the project.
Mote said the new proposal could be a step in the right direction.
"We're looking for an assurance that, in the long term, we can maintain an open, pedestrian-friendly environment," he said.
The new proposal's lack of fences would make it easier for pedestrians to cross Campus Drive, addressing Mote's fear that the Purple Line would divide the campus in two. But running the trains down Campus Drive could still affect research in the physics and other science buildings because of vibrations and magnetic fields, Mote said.
Vice President for Administrative Affairs Doug Duncan agreed the changes made were an improvement over earlier proposals.Madden said he has never met with Mote - a staunch opponent of the previous Campus Drive alignment - and that lack of communication has complicated negotiations. Madden was surprised by the intensity of Mote's opposition.
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