Time is running short.  The deadline for comments on the Cheh-trail environmental assessment (EA) is Tuesday, July 6th and we appreciate that this is a holiday weekend.  Here are some points that can be made.   Choose as many as you are able for your comment and be as long or brief as you are able.  For additional background, we’re also enclosing the Coalition’s more expanded comment:

• Cheh’s legislation limits the trail to 10’ width with a permeable surface.  The EA has a wider and impervious surface alternatives.  It should add an alternative of restoring and rebuilding Klingle Road.

• Hike/Bike supporters told Cheh the trail would cost about $2million.  The EA says at least $5 million and $7millon to extend to Rock Creek.  In 2005, the cost of rebuilding the road to its pre-collapse two-lane configuration was $7.1 million.  That’s still in the ballpark in today’s economy.  A road is clearly more bang for the buck.

• A road assures the District’s right to use the Klingle land forever as a public highway.  A hike/bike trail does not.

• The 2003 Road restoration legislation and a supporting Preliminary environmental impact statement were in force when the Tregaron land swap deal was negotiated and approved by the Mayor’s agent for historic preservation.   Closing Klingle Road kills development of at least five high-end residences that would otherwise generate badly needed income and property taxes for the City.

• Permeable surfaces may be useful on flat terrain like a parking lot.  Building a permeable surface trail, that cannot catch storm water running down Klingle’s slopes, is a multi-million dollar experiment at the expense of DC taxpayers.

• WASA, WMATA and Washington Gas have used Klingle Road since its collapse in 1991.  WASA had the road plowed in February 2010.  Multi-ton trucks used the road on the Connecticut Avenue Bridge rebuilding.   The Cheh Trail does not provide width or durable surface needed by these vehicles.