The Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT) is a proposed light rail

Light rail

Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

 or bus rapid transit

Bus rapid transit

Bus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...

 line in Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, USA, that would run from the Shady Grove Metro station

Shady Grove (Washington Metro)

Shady Grove is an island platformed Washington Metro station in Derwood, Maryland, United States. The station was opened on December 15, 1984, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority . Serving as the northwestern terminus of the Red Line, it is the station most distant...

 in Gaithersburg

Gaithersburg, Maryland

Gaithersburg is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The city had a population of 59,933 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth largest incorporated city in the state, behind Baltimore, Frederick, and Rockville...

 northwest to Clarksburg

Clarksburg, Maryland

Clarksburg is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Northern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, located along the Interstate 270 technology corridor about 4 miles north of Germantown, MD. As of Census 2010 its population is 13,766....

. The Master Plans for both Montgomery

Montgomery County, Maryland

Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland, situated just to the north of Washington, D.C., and southwest of the city of Baltimore. It is one of the most affluent counties in the United States, and has the highest percentage of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate...

 and Frederick

Frederick County, Maryland

Frederick County is a county located in the western part of the U.S. state of Maryland, bordering the southern border of Pennsylvania and the northeastern border of Virginia. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 233,385....

 Counties provide for the eventual extension of the CCT northward along I-270 into Frederick City

Frederick, Maryland

Frederick is a city in north-central Maryland. It is the county seat of Frederick County, the largest county by area in the state of Maryland. Frederick is an outlying community of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of a greater...

.

The study is being performed by the Maryland Transit Administration

Maryland Transit Administration

The Maryland Transit Administration is a state-operated mass transit administration in Maryland, and is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation. It is better known as MTA Maryland to avoid confusion with other cities' transit agencies who share the initials MTA. The MTA operates a...

 (MTA) in coordination with the larger I-270

Interstate 270 (Maryland)

Interstate 270 is a auxiliary Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Maryland that travels between Interstate 495 just north of Bethesda, Montgomery County and Interstate 70 in the city of Frederick in Frederick County. It consists of the mainline as well as a spur that provides access to and...

/US 15

U.S. Route 15 in Maryland

U.S. Route 15 is a part of the U.S. Highway System that runs from Walterboro, South Carolina to Painted Post, New York. In Maryland, the highway runs from the Virginia state line at the Potomac River in Point of Rocks north to the Pennsylvania state line near Emmitsburg. US 15 is...

 Multi-Modal Corridor Study being conducted by the Maryland Department of Transportation

Maryland Department of Transportation

The Maryland Department of Transportation is a government agency in the U.S. state of Maryland. MDOT is overseen by Transportation Secretary Beverley K. Swaim-Staley, who replaced John Porcari in 2009 upon the latter's appointment as Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of...

, which is examining multiple options for the region including possible Express Toll Lanes along I-270. A Draft Environmental Impact Study was expected to be completed in Spring 2007 with preferred mode being decided upon in Summer 2007. However, problems with MTA's computer model that is used to forecast transit ridership have delayed the completion of the Environmental Assessment an estimated 12 months. Current estimates say that the Draft Environmental Assessment Study will be completed in the Winter or Spring of 2008.

Route controversy

The officially proposed Transitway route curves west from Shady Grove Metro through several scattered office parks in south Gaithersburg before looping back north and east to rejoin the CSX railroad tracks near Metropolitan Grove. The route would be very slow for riders from the upper portions of the line hoping to reach Shady Grove, and misses important walkable new urbanist

New urbanism

New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use...

 neighborhoods that are conducive to supporting transit. As a result of these perceived inadequacies, the Action Committee for Transit, a local advocacy group, has proposed an alternate "two-spurred" alignment that would replace the Quince Orchard Road segment of the route with a new segment directly connecting Metropolitan Grove with Shady Grove, and slightly adjusting the location of multiple proposed stops. Supporters of the original route already engineered by the State of Maryland believe it would better serve both commuters in upper Montgomery County

Montgomery County, Maryland

Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland, situated just to the north of Washington, D.C., and southwest of the city of Baltimore. It is one of the most affluent counties in the United States, and has the highest percentage of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate...

, as well as transit-dependent pedestrian populations in Kentlands, downtown Gaithersburg, Crown Farm and Clarksburg Town Center.

External links

• Montgomery County - Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission - Official planning site
• Maryland State Highway Administration - Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Section 4(f) Evaluation
• Action Committee for Transit - A group supporting transit in Maryland.
• BeyondDC: Corridor Cities Controversy - A critique of planning for the proposed route.