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SCMAGLEV UPDATE MH 2020.07.21

MONTPELIER HILLS SCMAGLEV TRAIN UPDATE
For
Montpelier Hills
 2020.11.08 1030  UNOFFICIAL

MagLev DEIS Prep Resumes; Design Changes
Greenbelt News Review 2020.07.09  pages 1 & 8
by-line Deanna Dawson 
That article sums up well what we now explicitly know (and also don't know), since the 6-month-long SCMAGLEV project "pause" for consultations between the project developer Baltimore Washington Rapid Raid, and the Maryland Department of Transportation, and the Federal Railroad Administration, has now resumed with a revised, extended schedule (see article)
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN NOW FOR MONTPELIER HILLS?
  • The previous official/published Alternative Routes map is gone from the  SCMagLev project website BWmaglev.info (Documents). That map used to show that Alternative Route J1-West (above ground) had been relocated eastward toward the west edge of the BW Parkway (vice previously slicing through 100 MH town homes, but still within 67 feet of some townhouses on Sea Pearl and Ivory Fashion, and still way too close to others there and also at Frensham, Hermosa, Elmshorn, etc.).  So right now we no longer know where J1-West will be located. The completed Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) will propose selection of either J1-West or J1-East for the Final EIS, to be approved by the Federal Railway Administration.
  • 2020.07.21 Revised [draft] Alternative Route maps are expected to be posted soon at BWmaglev.info  in menu Document/Maps (*) 
  • The extended DEIS schedule gives us much more time. 
DETAILS
SCMagLev has now (as of May  2020) resumed preparation of an apparently somewhat revised and extended-schedule Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS). Terminals/end-points and even the "Alternative Routes" along the east or west sides of the BW Parkway, may still be subject to significant, but as yet unspecified changes. This raises questions such as:
  • Have the SCMAGLEV terminal stations in Baltimore and DC changed from the (most recent) November 2018 Alternatives Report (below)
  • Are there new/revised Alternative Routes through or avoiding our community? 
  • When will (at least "top-level" "table-top") details guiding the revised DEIS be published on the SCMAGLEV site BWmaglev. info ?
See most recent Project Documents/Reports (now somewhat superseded):
  • Alternatives Report & Appendices A-C – Nov 2018 bit.ly/AR2018p1
  • Alternatives Report Appendices D - G – Nov 2018
    bit.ly/AR2018p2
  • The most recent alternative routes maps (Nov 2018) are gone from the project website BWmaglev. info 
  • When will new DEIS Alternative Route maps be published? Starting now with the current level of revised system engineering (even if just "tabletop" level detail), showing any new/changed prospective terminals and intended routes, especially through our community?
For further updates see:
StopThisTrain.org  (2020.11.08)

SouthLaurelViews.com  
unofficial South Laurel including Montpelier Hills

MontpelierHillsNews.com  
unofficial specifically about Montpelier Hills

BWmaglev.info   
BW Magnetic Levitation Train project website
  
(*) Meanwhile, please continue to continuously submit multiple/separate for-the-record comments on any/all issues of concern to you about the Draft Environmental Impact Study at BWmaglev.info under "Contact Us". Please also send copies of all your comments to your elected representatives. For those and additional addresses please see Facebook short URL j.mp/3fs6nYj . No Facebook account needed.

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