For Immediate Release

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Source: Action Committee for Transit

TOWN OF CHEVY CHASE:

ALL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS NOT CREATED EQUAL

Are elementary schools in the Town of Chevy Chase somehow different from all other schools? The Town wants oversized buses to run all day past North Chevy Chase Elementary School, located outside its boundaries, at 30 or 40 mph. But at a public hearing tonight, the Town is demanding a 15-mph speed limits on streets around its own school.

The town is spending $250,000 to promote a "bus rapid transit" line that would run at 30 mph on Jones Bridge Road past North Chevy Chase Elementary School. Jones Bridge Road, as it happens, would substitute for a Purple Line light rail along the Town's own borders. In fact, the Town thinks the state's plan doesn't move the buses fast enough. In a letter to Transportation Secretary John Porcari, Mayor Linna Barnes asked the state to study a Jones Bridge Road bus route with "travel times comparable to

[other] BRT and LRT alternatives" -- all with vehicles moving at 40 mph or faster.

At the same time, the town demands that speed limits go down to 15 mph in front of Chevy Chase Elementary, located in its own territory. The Town is holding a public hearing on this proposal at 7:00 pm tonight at 4301 Willow Ave.

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