Purple Line Opponents' Years of Stalling
Cost Project Green Features and Phased Implementation
Press release issued September 8, 2017
The perennial litigants against the Purple Line are at it again, having filed yet another complaint against the process to approve and fund the project. "Sadly, this line would have been completed years earlier at lower cost and with nicer amenities, if not for the repeated lawsuits coming from this tiny minority," said Nick Brand, founding member (of 31 years) and former ACT president. "The cost of borrowing has increased during the delays, and the project’s budget has been cut, so features such as grass tracks and the ability to work on small sections of the project at a time, have been slashed to make up the difference."
The obstructionist actions are mostly from a small group of residents in neighborhoods near the rail line between Bethesda and Silver Spring. They object to the Purple Line sharing the rail right-of-way with the Capital Crescent Trail, which was always the County’s intent when the line was bought from the CSX railway more than 30 years ago.
This is in contrast to the vast majority of Marylanders who see the need for a transit line parallel to the Beltway in Montgomery and Prince George’s County and the value of finishing the trail and extending it to connect to the Metropolitan Branch Trail in Silver Spring. At the ground-breaking for the Purple Line last month, both Democratic and Republican officials gathered to launch a project that will benefit all Marylanders, whether or not they ride the line.
"ACT members are dedicated users of the trail and will miss being able to access it during construction, but we look forward to a complete trail that is accessible to more people, is safer, and will go all the way to Silver Spring," said current ACT president, Ronit Aviva Dancis.