Bethesda Naval Hospital Expansion
The Naval Hospital needs a new Metro entrance
Rep. Van Hollen and Sens. Cardin and Mikulski have won federal funding for transportation into the expanded Bethesda Naval Hospital. While most of this money was for road widenings, a considerable portion was intended to improve access to the Medical Center Metro station. Metro staff studied five options, including a new elevator entrance to the Metro station. But the Montgomery County Dept. of Transportation tried to divert that money into a road-building project. After one plan for a four-lane underpass beneath Rockville Pike was exposed by ACT, MCDOT came up with a second underpass plan that is only slightly less objectionable.
After further study, in November 2010, federal, state, and local agencies recommended a much-improved transit access plan for Medical Center Metro. It consists of a pedestrian underpass beneath Rockville Pike plus elevators from the Navy Med side of the road down to the Red Line. There's not enough money for both, so the question now is which comes first. The Planning Board agrees with ACT and says it should be the elevators. Criteria for federal funding of transportation projects at relocated military bases were revised by DOD in September 2011 to emphasize reduction of parking demand, better pedestrian access, and security, three issues that the elevator entrance would help address. Funding has now been awarded for construction of the elevator and underpass.
A missed opportunity
The Navy's design for an expanded Bethesda Navy Hospital was a monumental missed opportunity for transportation planning. If the Environmental Impact Statement is taken at face value, transit usage at the facility will be sharply reduced while auto commuting will increase.
Ignoring the legal requirement to study alternatives with reduced environmental impacts, the Navy studied two alternatives that both add 1800 heavily subsidized
parking spaces, far more than the 2200 new employees (many working weekends and shifts) and new hospital visitors will need. The Navy refused to analyze a no-added-parking alternative proposed by ACT and endorsed by the Bethesda-Chevy
Chase Chamber of Commerce. This ignored the basic purpose of an EIS, which is to look at alternatives with less environmental impact.
According to the EIS (Appendix C, page 50), if new employees generate commuting and visitor trips at the same rate as existing Bethesda Naval employees, the proposed 2200 new employees would put 418 cars on the road during the most
congested 60 minutes of the evening rush hour. The ACT proposal would have further reduced this number by clustering buildings near Metro and making transit more accessible. But the EIS projected 921 auto trips during that hour - more than double the number generated by an equal number of current employees.
ACT's vision of a transit-oriented Naval Hospital
Apr 15, 2007, ACT's comments on the EISDec 10, 2007, Critique of the transportation analysis
Jan 28, 2008, Comments to the BRAC program manager
Jul 14, 2009, Letter to County Council on the Medical Center Metro Entrance
Sep 21, 2009, Letter re ARRA TIGER grant for Medical Center Tunnel
Jan 19, 2010, ACT Testifies on Transit Access at Medical Center Metro
Feb 3, 2010, ACT Testimony on Rockville Pike Access Project
May 25, 2010, NEPA Scoping Comments on MD 355 Crossing Study
July 27, 2010, Letter to Planning Board on Rockville Pike Crossing Study
Aug 3, 2010, ACT testimony on Rockville Pike Crossing Study alternatives