Purple Line (Maryland)


The Purple Line is a light rail line under construction to link the Maryland suburbs of Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park, and New Carrollton, all in the Washington metropolitan area. The line will allow riders to move between the Maryland branches of the Red, Green/Yellow, and Orange lines of the Washington Metro without needing to ride into central Washington, D.C., and will also offer transfers to all three lines of the MARC commuter rail system. The project is administered by the Maryland Transit Administration.
Purple Line Transit Partners, a consortium led by Fluor Enterprises, will design and build the Purple Line, and subsequently operate and maintain it for 36 years. Construction began in August 2017. While originally scheduled to start service in March 2022, mounting construction setbacks and extended lawsuits had delayed the expected opening to 2026.
Throughout the decades-long planning process, the project had been dogged by resistance, particularly from inhabitants of the upscale community of Chevy Chase. During the administration of Governor Bob Ehrlich plans were made to build a bus rapid transit line dubbed the Bi-County Transitway instead. Legal attempts to thwart the line continued even after construction had begun; but in December 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that Purple Line construction could continue, effectively ending the legal battle over the rail project.

History

Early studies, public debate, design

The Purple Line started out as one project but the name was transferred to another. It was first conceived in 1994 by John J. Corley Jr., an architect with Harry Weese Associates, which designed Washington's Metro System. It was proposed as a multibillion-dollar Metro line around the Capital Beltway. This would have served as a "ring" line, connecting suburb to suburb, as compared to the lines of the existing Metro system, which radiate from Washington. In 1998, the Beltway Purple Line got considerable political support from Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan and then-Governor Parris Glendening, but then as a $10 billion, line from National Harbor to Montgomery Mall.
In 1987, CSX had expressed a desire to abandon the Georgetown Branch rail line and leaders in Maryland immediately began to consider adapting it for transit and a trail. Montgomery County purchased its portion of the railroad right-of-way from CSX in 1988. Eventually this became known as the "Inner Purple Line" to distinguish it from the originally-conceived Purple Line. By 2001, the idea of a Beltway Metro line had been abandoned as too costly and the name was attached to the Bethesda to line.
Robert Flanagan, the Maryland State Secretary of Transportation under Governor Robert Ehrlich, merged the Purple Line with another transportation project, Georgetown Branch Light Rail Transit. The GBLRT was proposed as a light rail transit line from westward, following the former Georgetown Branch of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to.
Both Governor Ehrlich and Secretary Flanagan introduced an alternative mode – bus rapid transit – that might have been utilized in lieu of light rail transit. To reflect this possibility, the administration changed the name of the project to the "Bi-County Transitway" in March 2003. Another reason that "the Purple Line" was discouraged by the Ehrlich administration was that its associations with the other color-oriented names of the Washington Metro system might lead the public to expect a heavy rail option. The new name did not catch on, however, as several media outlets and most citizens continued to refer to the project as the Purple Line. As a result, Governor Martin O'Malley and Secretary of Transportation John Porcari opted to revert to "Purple Line" in 2007.
In January 2008, the O'Malley administration allocated $100 million within a six-year capital budget to complete design documents for state approval and funding of the Purple Line. In May 2008, it was reported that the Purple Line could handle about 68,000 daily trips.
A draft environmental impact study was issued on October 20, 2008. On December 22, 2008, Montgomery County planners endorsed building a light rail line rather than a bus line. On January 15, 2009, the county planning board also endorsed the light rail option, and County Executive Isiah Leggett has also expressed support. On October 21, 2009, members of the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board voted unanimously to approve the Purple Line light rail project for inclusion into the region's Constrained Long-Range Transportation Plan.
Planners intend to utilize existing Metrorail stations and for the Purple Line to accept WMATA's SmarTrip farecard. Metro's 2008 annual report asks readers to imagine that in 2030 the Purple Line will be integrated with WMATA's existing transit system.
The proposed project prompted support and opposition in the community:
Support for Purple Line
Support for bus
.
Opposition to rail
Governor Larry Hogan opposed the Purple Line project while campaigning in 2014 but approved it in June 2015. At the same time, Hogan cancelled its sister project, the Baltimore Red Line, citing excessive costs. Hogan reduced the state's contribution to the project from $700 million to $168 million, with the savings reallocated toward increased highway construction. The budget shortfall is expected to be covered by increased funds from Prince George's and Montgomery counties, as well as lower operational costs due to longer headways.
On March 2, 2016, Hogan announced that the state has chosen a team of private companies to build, operate and maintain a light-rail Purple Line in the Washington suburbs for $3.3 billion over 36 years. Under the winning bid – proposed by the team Purple Line Transit Partners and led by construction giant Fluor Corporation – the six-year construction project began later that year, and the 16-mile line may be open for service by late 2022, or else 2023 or 2024.
On April 6, 2016, the Maryland Board of Public Works — made up of Hogan, State Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp, and State Comptroller Peter Franchot — unanimously approved the contract, as expected. The $5.6 billion contract is 876 pages long and, according to The Washington Post is "believed to be the most expensive government contract ever in Maryland" and "one of the largest public-private partnerships on a U.S. transportation project" ever. The contract approval allows the Maryland Transit Administration to finalize $900 million in federal construction grants.
In August 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon found that the Maryland Transit Administration and the Federal Transit Administration did not study whether Metro's maintenance issues and ridership decline would affect the Purple Line. Judge Leon decided to vacate the Purple Line's federal approval. A federal funding agreement cannot be signed without the reinstatement of the environmental approval, and Maryland has said it cannot afford to build the Purple Line without sufficient federal funding. On August 21, 2017, despite the ongoing court case over the environmental analysis, $900 million of federal funding was granted for the light rail project. On December 19, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in favor of the Purple Line, specifically stating that declining ridership on the Washington Metro system does not require Maryland to complete a new environmental study for the Purple Line. This federal appeals court ruling allowed for construction to continue and effectively ended the three-year legal battle surrounding the 16-mile light-rail line project. On April 13, 2020, U.S. District Judge James Bredar dismissed the third and final lawsuit brought by opponents of the Purple Line.

Route and station locations

The planned rail line will connect the existing Metro, MARC commuter rail, and Amtrak stations at:
The following stations are part of the "Locally Preferred Alternative" route approved by Governor Martin O'Malley on August 9, 2009:
Station NameLocationConnectionsFacilities
Bethesda station7450 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland Red Line
Metrobus: J2, J4, L2
Ride On: 29, 30, 32, 34, 36, 47, 70
Bethesda Circulator
Capital Crescent Trail
Connecticut Avenue stationCapital Crescent Trail, Connecticut Avenue
Chevy Chase, MD 20815		 Metrobus: L8
Lyttonsville stationLyttonsville Place, Lyttonsville, Silver Spring, MD 20910 Ride On: 2
16th Street–Woodside station16th Street Woodside, Silver Spring, MD 20910 Metrobus: J1, J2, J4
Ride On: 1, 2, 11, 18
Silver Spring Transit Center8400 Colesville Road Silver Spring, MD 20910 Red Line
MARC Train: Brunswick Line
Metrobus: 70, 79, F4, J1, J2, J4, Q1, Q2, Q4, S2, S4, S9, Y2, Y7, Y8, Z2, Z6, Z7, Z8, Z11
Ride On: 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 28
MTA Maryland Bus: 915, 929
Shuttle-UM: 111
Peter Pan Bus		Transit center
Capital Bikeshare
Silver Spring Library station900 Wayne Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910 Metrobus: F4, J4
Ride On: 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 28
Shuttle-UM: 111
Dale Drive stationDale Drive and Wayne Avenue Silver Spring, MD 20910 Ride On: 12, 15, 19
Manchester Place stationWayne Avenue and Plymouth Street Silver Spring, MD 20910 Metrobus: J4
Ride On: 12, 13, 19
Piney Branch Road stationPiney Branch Road and University Boulevard Silver Spring, MD 20903 Metrobus: C2, C4, J4
Ride On: 14, 15, 16, 20, 24
Takoma Langley Crossroads Transit Center7900 New Hampshire Ave Langley Park, MD Metrobus: C2, C4, J4, K6, K9
Ride On: 15, 16, 17, 18, 25
TheBus: 18
Shuttle-UM: 111
Riggs Road stationRiggs Road and University Boulevard Langley Park/Hyattsville, MD 20903 Metrobus: C2, C4, J4, F8, R1, R2
TheBus: 18
Adelphi Road–UMGC–UMD stationAdelphi Road and Campus Drive Adelphi/Hyattsville, MD 20903 Metrobus: C2, C8, F6, F8, J4
TheBus: 18
Shuttle-UM
Campus Drive–UMD stationCampus Drive and Library Lane College Park, MD 20742 Metrobus: C2, C8, F6, J4
Shuttle-UM
Adelphi Road–UMGC–UMD stationBaltimore Avenue and Rossborough Lane College Park, MD 20742 Metrobus: 83, 83X, 86, C8, F6, J4
TheBus: 17
Shuttle-UM
College Park–University of Maryland station4931 Calvert Road and 7202 Bowdoin Avenue, College Park, Maryland Green Line
Yellow Line
MARC Train: Camden Line
Metrobus: 83, 86, C8, F6, J4, R12
RTA: 302/G
TheBus: 14, 17
Shuttle-UM: 104, 109
MTA Maryland: 204
Riverdale Park North–UMD stationRiver Road and Haig Drive Riverdale, MD 20737 Metrobus: F6, R12
TheBus: 14
Riverdale Park–Kenilworth stationEast West Highway and Kenilworth Avenue Riverdale, MD 20737 Metrobus: F4, R12, T14
TheBus: 14
Beacon Heights–East Pines stationRiverdale Road and 67th Avenue Riverdale, MD 20737 Metrobus: F4, T14
TheBus: 14
Glenridge stationVeterans Parkway and Annapolis Road Hyattsville, MD 20784 Metrobus: F13, T18
New Carrollton station4300-4700 Garden City Drive, New Carrollton, Maryland Orange Line
MARC Train: Penn Line
Amtrak
Metrobus: 87, B21, B22, B24, B27, B29, C28, F4, F6, F12, F13, F14, G12, G14, T14, T18
MTA Maryland Commuter Bus
TheBus: 15X, 16, 21, 21X
Greyhound
Peter Pan Bus Lines

Potential further expansion

Although the majority of discussions about the Purple Line describe the project as a 16-mile east–west line between Bethesda and New Carrollton, there have been several proposals to expand the line further into Maryland or to mirror the Capital Beltway as a loop around the entire Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The Sierra Club has argued for a Purple Line that would "encircle Washington, D.C." and "connect existing suburban metro lines." Maryland Lieutenant Governor Anthony G. Brown, while campaigning in 2006, similarly stated that he'd "like to see the Purple Line go from Bethesda to across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge," adding, "Let's swing that boy all the way around".
An advocacy group known as "The Inner Purple Line Campaign" has stated that the Purple Line could be extended westward to Tysons Corner and eastward to Largo, and that it could eventually cross the new Wilson Bridge from Suitland through Oxon Hill to Alexandria, eventually forming a rail line that encircles the city. The reconstruction of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge provides capacity for the bridge to carry a heavy or light rail line. Suggested stops along this proposed Purple Line expansion include:
Light rail vehicles are being constructed by Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles USA at their Elmira, New York facility. Vehicles are long and can carry up to 431 passengers. Cars are planned to enter the testing phase of operation in 2020.