A board of the region’s key transportation leaders is slated to vote today on whether to add the proposed Purple Line to the region’s long-term plans, prompting a renewed push from opponents trying to stop the project.
They flooded the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board with 69 e-mails against the line, and some may try to speak during the comment period at the start of the meeting, as they have in the past. Four comments were submitted in support of the line as of Tuesday, although the project has had widespread support from many organizations and officials.
The 16-mile transit line that has been disputed for more than two decades passed a key hurdle earlier this year when the Montgomery County Council backed the project as a light rail line between New Carrollton and Bethesda. Dozens of people spoke in public meetings, and thousands of comments arrived through e-mail.
Now, the Transportation Planning Board, made up of elected officials and bureaucrats, will be the next board to wade into the issue. Its approval would clear the way for officials to seek federal funding and start construction.
But Maryland officials have not decided whether it will be light rail or bus rapid transit.
Opponents say light rail along the planned alignment would endanger the beloved Capital Crescent Trail. Some have asked for an underground line instead, while others asked for bus rapid transit or a different route such as between the inner and outer Beltway loops.
The argument has pitted trail users against other trail users. It has pitched environmentalists who think the proposed route would take more cars off the road against environmentalists who want to preserve trees and green space.
Initially, state officials had planned to decide on the line’s form in March. Then the decision was slated for June. Earlier this month, a Maryland spokeswoman said she didn’t expect a decision until later this summer.
A state official on the project told The Examiner this spring that the plans before the Transportation Planning Board are a placeholder until the final form is chosen.
The $1.4 billion proposal calls for starting work on the transit line in 2012 and having it running by 2017. The line would have 21 stations, stretching from the Bethesda Metrorail station to the New Carrollton Orange Line and Amtrak station.
