Steve Burns
ROCKVILLE – (WMAL) As Montgomery County officials hailed the State of Maryland awarding a winning bidder to green-light the Purple Line, a new phase of concerns are beginning to show on the horizon: the disruptions of construction, new development, and cost-cutting.
“People of Chevy Chase aren’t raising their hand going ‘hooray, hooray!’” Councilmember Roger Berliner told WMAL. “I feel for them because, in effect, they’ve been asked to make a sacrifice for the larger public good. It’s going to be very disruptive, obviously.”
Maryland Secretary of Transportation Pete Rahn told reporters construction on the line is slated to begin “late this year,” but did not specify a starting point. The line is set to run from Bethesda to New Carrollton, connecting to Metro stops in Silver Spring and College Park along the way in addition to the termini. Rahn estimated an opening in 2022.
“You have to fund it adequately enough that you can actually deliver what you tell people you plan on delivering,” Councilmember Marc Elrich told WMAL. The winning bidder’s estimate came out to be a half-billion dollars under the State’s estimate, following Governor Larry Hogan requesting more money from Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties, and cutting costs by reducing train frequency and eliminating a storage yard. “Hopefully the companies won’t take too much stuff out of it. I think a lot of people thought there were underfunding issues in terms of getting enough money,” Elrich said.
Regarding construction concerns, Elrich maintained his five decades in the county have seen plenty of change. “You can’t make progress without changing things. That is the nature of progress. And when things change, there’s always moments of disruption.”
Berliner said the “larger public good” will become evident in new development. “We will have allowed a little more development at these stops. There are parts of our community that actually have not had as much economic opportunity as the areas I’ve represented.”
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