A proposed public transit line connecting Prince George’s and Montgomery counties has found new life since it made the cut for Gov. Martin O’Malley’s budget, and key lawmakers are lining up behind it.
This week, Senate President Thomas Mike Miller, D-Calvert and Prince George’s, said he would like to see the two counties connected. Last week, O’Malley allocated $100 million in his six-year capital budget for designing the Purple Line.
Groups favoring the line say connecting the counties is key to alleviating the daily traffic snarls on the Beltway, and they have suggested routes that include one that runs along old railroad tracks that adjoin Columbia Country Club’s golf course.
A group of well-connected Chevy Chase residents has launched a campaign urging O’Malley to build a Purple Line thatwould loop through the District of Columbia following the Red Line’s path, and then connect the National Naval Medical Center to Silver Spring on elevated tracks above the Beltway, forming a loop.
The campaign, including leadership from Columbia Country Club, according to a Purple Line advocacy group, was launched earlier this month and would not include a connection to Prince George’s County.
Plans for the Purple Line are still being studied, and the options include both light rail and rapid bus lines, state project manager Michael Madden said, although the loop option is off the table. Those studies should be finished by May and ready for a public hearing in June.
After that, it will be up to O’Malley and Maryland Transit Administration Secretary John Porcari to decide the proper course.
