Train stop at Med Center would prove disastrous

Regarding Leslie Deak's letter in the April 22 edition of The Chronicle castigating the university for not wanting a Triangle Transit Authority stop at the Medical Center on Erwin Road, she should get her facts straight before writing letters.

Deak's Georgetown/D.C. Metro example is irrelevant. TTA is rail, not underground. Rail is, in fact, "trains" on rails. A Medical Center stop on Erwin Road is part of the next phase of extension to Chapel Hill by the system. But the problem is that because the trains cannot navigate serious grades, Erwin Road would have to be reconstructed with an elevated rail at grade running down the middle of it; then it's off to Chapel Hill via a) the golf course, b) 15-501 bypass, c) the primate facility or d) Duke Forest.

Does Deak not understand that Chapel Hill is on a hill which cannot be climbed by the TTA rail train? Does she really believe that the town of Chapel Hill will allow a terminus at Eastgate (with bus or funicular up Franklin Street)? Is she aware of the concerns of the Chapel Hill authorities?

The President's Advisory Committee on Resources, which I chair, has had reports on this matter over the year, and congratulates President Nan Keohane for both refusing to lend Duke's support to such an environmental disaster, and continuing to support TTA's attempts to come up with a plan which serves riders' needs as well as the environment.

E. Roy Weintraub

Department of Economics