University may regret opposition to rail stop

The University's opposition to the proposed Triangle Transit Authority rail stop near the Medical Center needs to be squelched. The University can only benefit from a stop near the hospital. Patients will appreciate the convenience and perhaps choose Duke over some other hospital because of its proximity to public transportation. Students could use the rail line to get to and from Franklin Street and South Square, eliminating the need for the University to provide buses at additional expense. Employees would be thrilled not to have to battle increasingly frustrating Triangle area traffic to get to work.

Most importantly, however, I have seen the dire consequences of such a mistake. When Washington, DC's Metro system was proposed more than 30 years ago, plans included no stop for Georgetown. Local lore says that local residents opposed a Metro stop because they didn't want undesirables from the city coming into their upper-class neighborhood.

Thirty years later, however, the omission of a Georgetown stop has proven to be a huge mistake. Students, employees and medical center patients must brave the traffic on small, overburdened roads loaded with buses, taxis and emergency vehicles. Traffic and parking in the Georgetown area are a nightmare.

Sure, Georgetown runs a shuttle from the two nearest Metro stops to the University, one and four miles away, respectively. But those buses are infrequent, feature long rides and brave the same terrible traffic as the rest of the community. As an employee, I have chosen an hour-long automobile commute to work every day-further increasing the region's traffic woes-rather than hassle with the rail to bus transfer. I would love to travel to work by Metro every day, but the lack of a Georgetown Metro stop prevents it.

There are plans on the drawing board to expand the Metro system, and one plan includes a Georgetown Metro stop. But the cost of expanding the rail system after the fact are astronomical. Metro and Georgetown should have done the right thing from the get-go by insisting on a Metro stop on or next to such a major academic, research and medical campus. I urge Duke not to make the same horrible mistake.

Leslie Deak

Trinity '98