Purple Line Funding Concerns

Maryland officials are worried that problems which have plagued funding for the Silver Line in Virginia may also impede funding for the Purple Line.

State Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari said recently that national competition has always been fierce for a relatively small pot of federal transit money. Still, Porcari said, "we're all concerned this Dulles decision is signaling that it's going to be even more difficult in the future." . . .

Porcari said that the state's latest ridership estimates for a Purple Line -- as many as 47,000 boardings daily -- are "very strong" but that planners are still working to keep costs down. He said the state hopes the federal government will pay as much as half the cost of building a light rail or rapid bus line between Bethesda and New Carrollton. Without federal help, the project is prohibitively expensive, he said. . . .

"Local dissension about the design of the project" is another of the Dulles rail project's "extraordinary large set of challenges," FTA chief James S. Simpson said. And like the Silver Line and most other major transportation projects, the Purple Line faces its share of vocal opposition.

For years, some Chevy Chase and Silver Spring residents have objected to the idea of Purple Line trains or buses running through their neighborhoods. Some users of the Capital Crescent Trail have launched another protest, saying a Purple Line along the popular walking and bike path would destroy a rare swath of urban tranquility between Bethesda and Silver Spring. Officials at the University of Maryland are fighting the state's plans to run the project down the College Park campus's main street. They say it would be too dangerous for pedestrians.

If cost remains a major pressure, then it appears bus-rapid transit should gain a lift over the light-rail proposal. After all, the Project Manager for the Purple Line has conceded that it is more cost effective than light rail. One might also boost ridership by running the rapid buses to BRAC and NIH via Medical Center Metro before going down Woodmont Ave., rezoned by the Council for high density buildings, before terminating at the Bethesda Metro.