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Purple Line NOW! has joined a diverse coalition of student leaders, local elected officials and advocacy groups to fight the University of Maryland's planned summer trial closure of Campus Drive.

The University administration continues to oppose the Purple Line alignment on Campus Drive, which is the only feasible Purple Line route through campus. The Maryland Transit Administration announced in late March that they would be unable to service the south campus alignment proposed by the administration, so a stalemate seems to exist.

MTA rendering of the Purple Line station at the Stamp Student Union.

The University administrations's objections to the Campus Drive alignment include concerns about electromagnetic interference with sensitive experiments in laboratories near Campus Drive, pedestrian safety, and the aesthetics of the campus.

In late April, the University administration announced a plan for a test closure of Campus Drive to all non-emergency motorized traffic between the M Circle and Cole Activities Building. Such a closure has been in plans for 30 years or more; its implementation at this time has caused some to suggest it may be related to Administration opposition to the Campus Drive alignment. Once a vehicle free zone has been established, they suggest, the Purple Line can better be described as an intrusion.

Opposition to the planned exclusion of buses and relocation of the campus stops to more remote locations has caused strenuous and broad opposition, with the Student Government Association opposing the closing and favoring the Campus Drive alignment of the Purple Line. Grounds for the objections include the Campus Master Plan and the University's Climate Action plan which commits the University to encouraging transportation alternatives to the car. The SGA held a public meeting on the closure on May 4. The Diamondback reported at "Students blast campus Drive summer plans" that the meeting left many students unhappy with the administration's position.

"As UMD embarks on its 2010 update to the Campus Master Plan we urge that this process take into account the realities of the Purple Line planning process: namely that an at-grade Campus Drive alignment is the only achievable option. It is critical that MTA planners are included in every step of the process."

"Furthermore, given the tremendous benefits that the Purple Line will bring to the campus community and the larger region, the UMD administration must become an ardent champion and outright supporter of the Purple Line. The first step towards that unequivocal support is the closure of Campus Drive to cars while keeping the buses where they are."

Purple Line NOW! helped sponsor a UMD Purple Line Forum on Monday, May 24 at the Stamp Student Union. The MTA presented the design concepts and studies that show why the Campus Drive alignment is the only viable alignment, and how Purple Line design features will mitigate the UMD administration concerns for electromagnetic interference, aethetics, and pedestrian safety.

A slide from the May 24 MTA briefing at UMD
The briefing is available online HERE as a pdf file.
MTA studies on mitigation of electromagnetic effects are available at the MTA website

Shortly after the Purple Line Forum, the UMD administration announced it was scaling back the trial closure of Campus Drive. Under their new proposal, the closure would be equally divided to test two models. Both models would close Campus Drive to cars, but the first model would allow buses to continue running through the campus on Campus Drive while the second model would close campus drive to buses. This compromise was welcomed by the Diamondback editorial board in their June 2, 2010 Staff editorial: Public options. From the editorial, in part:

Although the experiment has not yet begun, it seems the first model, which allows Shuttle-UM and Metro buses to continue running through the center of the campus, would eliminate many of the issues students had with the initial plan. Disabled students would not have to rely on the Campus Connector shuttles to navigate the campus, student routines would not be disrupted, the convenience the buses provide would remain intact, and the administration would still accomplish its goal of eliminating most vehicular through traffic along the main road.

This version of the plan would essentially create a mass-transit corridor along Campus Drive. It acknowledges the fact that Campus Drive is the heart of the campus. And rather than attempting to block it off, the university would be effectively maximizing the convenience the road offers. Moreover, by closing the road to commuter vehicles, the plan would likely encourage more people to use public transportation, which would help move the university along in its goal to cut carbon emissions.

If adopted, the plan would also mesh well with a Campus Drive alignment for the Purple Line - a light-rail system that would connect Montgomery and Prince George's counties. Although the administration remains stubbornly opposed to this alignment, it is clearly the route of choice for students, the Maryland Transit Administration and state officials.

Scaling back the trial closure of Campus Drive to transit vehicles is a step in the right direction, but the UMD adminstration remains opposed to allowing the Purple Line in the central campus. Stewart Schwartz, the executive director of the advocacy group Coalition for Smarter Growth, cites the UMD administration for one of the worst examples in local planning. Schwartz is quoted in the Washington Post on June 11:

"Universities should play an important role in locating in mixed-use, walkable communities with transit access. The current challenge right now is with the University of Maryland, about the Purple Line, where the leadership of the school doesn't want it to run through the heart of the campus on Campus Drive, where it will generate the most ridership and be the most efficient. Which threatens to repeat the mistake of the first Metro, when we put the College Park-University of Maryland station a mile from the campus. It makes all the difference in the world."