In today's edition of Purple Line NOW News, here's what you'll find:

• A Purple Line Trail Walk in the Woodside Community
• Mark Your Calendar for the Next Purple Line Forum: April 15!
• Purple Line NOW Matching Campaign Has Reached Its Goal!

Share This Newsletter

Please feel free to share this newsletter - no permission from us needed! You can always find a link to our newsletter on our Purple Line NOW website which makes it easy to share with your friends, neighbors, constituents, customers, and employees.

CONSTRUCTION NEWS TO KNOW

Before we get to the Purple Line walk in the Woodside community, we wanted to share two terrific pictures of the newly installed Capital Crescent Trail Bridge, viewed from the east side of the Silver Spring metro (crossing Colesville Road.)

Photo Courtesy of Webb Smedley

Photo Courtesy of Webb Smedley

We hope these two photos help you envision a time, in just a few short years, when trains and trail are a reality!

A Purple Line Trail Walk in the Woodside Community

On Thursday, December 19, twenty residents of the Woodside community set out on a trail walk led by Purple Line Transit Constructors Sr. Manager for Public Affairs/Community Outreach, Carla Julian, and Structural Engineer, Mark Edsall.

The walk was set up because residents in this particular community wanted more information about how the Capital Crescent Trail (CCT) would fit into the edge of the community, where access points would be, and how the community would be shielded/landscaped from the trail, CSX trains and the Purple Line, since the train-bordering trees and shrubs have now been removed.

Barbara Sanders, a member of both the Woodside/Lyttonsville Community Advisory Team (CAT) and Purple Line NOW Executive Committee, set up the trail walk with the outreach coordinator for the project after the community was told the existing natural barriers were to be removed in the fall.

The walk began with a short meeting at the home of Barbara Sanders on Noyes Lane to review general information about the project and get everyone up to speed:

• The Purple Line is expected to open from New Carrollton to College Park in late 2022, with the complete line to Bethesda opening by mid-2023.
• The Capital Crescent Trail is being built by PLTP, but is funded by Montgomery County. It is on the same mid-2023 completion timetable. However, you may remember at Purple Line NOW’s July 2019 forum, Peter van der Waart, (CEO of the Purple Line Transit Partners) announced that they were working on a way to open the trail sooner. Mr. van der Waart emphasized that there were no promises, but, if an early opening does happen, the trail may need to close temporarily while final trial and testing is completed.
• Details for the trail alignment in Woodside are shown below in Figure 1 (north section), Figure 2 (center section), and Figure 3 (south section). More details can be provided to interested residents.

Fig 1 (North Section)

Fig 2 (Center Section)

Fig 3 (South Section)

• The Spring Street bridge needs to be demolished and rebuilt with more space below it on the west end near 15th Street for the two tracks of the Purple Line. This work must be completed while maintaining CSX, Metro, and MARC train operations. Tree removal and soil removal has been underway for months. The bridge closure is tentatively scheduled for March 2020 and will last about 7 months. There will be a 30-day construction advisory before closure. Detours of traffic and rerouting of buses are all scheduled to be around the Woodside neighborhood, without changes to First and Second Avenue rush hour restrictions.
• The Capital Crescent Trail tree cutting work is underway. All trees will be removed in the path of the trail between Noyes Lane and Spring Street. Work on the new trail is expected to begin in Woodside in late spring 2020, but completion is not required by contract until 2023.
• The trail work will start with utility work from Spring Street to South Springwood Drive and will include storm drain work, the relocation of water and sewer lines, and a possible new fire hydrant near the end of Ballard Street extended.
• The trail will generally be asphalt and 12-feet-wide, except in some constricted areas where the width will be reduced to 10 feet. There will be a divider separating the trail from the CSX right of way with precast concrete at the bottom and open fencing at the top.
• The trail varies in its relation to the existing grade of Third Avenue in order to meet ADA requirements. A similar treatment of concrete with fencing will be used on the Third Avenue section when necessary for safe passage of trail users. 
• There will be access from the 16th Street bridge by stairs to the trail and to a point on 3rd Avenue between the west end of Noyes Lane and the west end of Noyes Drive. An ADA compliant ramp will also connect the sidewalk at the north end of the bridge to the trail. This will cross the stairway at a landing platform. There should be places for access when the trail is adjacent to Third Avenue, beyond the Noyes Lane connection. These connections are shown on Figure 4, below.

Fig 4

The group raised a few issues that will likely require negotiation with the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) over the Purple Line contract provisions, and coordination for assistance with the Montgomery County Executive, Council, and Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT). Some of those issues included ways to speed the completion of the trail in this area where the path is not adjacent to the light rail construction and significant screening has been removed. Another major issue was inclusion of neighborhood sidewalk and bike path connections to both the CCT and the Purple Line station.

There are more detailed plans available on the Purple Line MD website and residents are encouraged to sign up for weekly construction notices to any area of the Purple Line Right-of-Way (ROW) to be made aware of significant projects.

PURPLE LINE NOW NEWS AND EVENTS

We have a date for the next Purple Line NOW forum! Mark your calendar in ink for Getting Ready for the First Purple Line Ride! on April 15, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at Montgomery College. You will be able to reserve your seat soon, so stay tuned for more details on this educational and interesting evening for both Montgomery and Prince George's counties. Remember, our forums are always free and open to the public and press, but because of space limitations, we ask that you reserve your seat in advance. We'll be sending out an invitation soon, so keep your eye out for it.

PURPLE LINE NOW ACTION

Can You Help Purple Line NOW Continue Its Work?

We are thrilled to announce that we reached the $5,000 threshold for matching donations last week! We are so thankful to each and every one of you who gave for the first time, continued your long history of giving, or answered our call when a generous matching benefactor reached out to us.

Purple Line NOW still needs your donations during the year and we appreciate every penny donated. If you would like to make a donation, you can do so by clicking on the black donate button below. Thank you!

We are grateful for ALL of our donors - thank you, thank you, for stepping up to help Purple Line NOW continue its work!

FEATURED DONORS: 
The Chevy Chase Land Company, The Malloy and Sanders Family, Tina, Don, and Jessie Slater

SUPPORTING DONORS:
John Carroll, Nancy and Rob Soreng, Eric Talbot

ENGINEERS:
Anne Ambler and John Fay, ATU Local 689, Ralph Bennett, Steven Hurtt, Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, John Robinson

CONDUCTORS:
Nick Brand, Bee and Brian Ditzler, Landmark Realty, Inc., Mary Lanigan, Ben Ross, Christine Scott and JohnR Llewellyn

COMMUTERS:
Elizabeth Barbehenn, Tyler Christensen, Sean Dobson, Jonathan Elkind, Elaine Emling, Joseph Fainberg, John Fay, Andrew Fellows, Neil Greene, William Holleran, Melanie Isis, Rhonda Long, Greg Madden, Anita Morrison, Mark Posner, Gareth Rosenau, Frederick Schultz, Shirley Storms, Jerry Withers, College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn

PASSENGERS:
Charles Bell, Merrie Blocker, Steve Brigham, Kris Colby, Miti Figueredo, Nick Finio, Alexandra Knox, Daniel Marcin, Mark Mesiti-Miller, Judith Morenoff, Tom Pogue, Martin Posthumus, John Undeland, Julie Zavala

Get Connected!

Make sure you are signed up for timely alerts from Purple Line NOW via our Twitter and Facebook pages, and at our website Purple Line NOW.

In today's edition of Purple Line NOW News, here's what you'll find:

• All Donations Will Be Doubled!
• Our Annual Top Ten Purple Line Stories Review!

ALL Donations Will Be DOUBLED!

We hope you saw our previous email announcing that a generous donor has come forward with a matching grant challenge and has offered a way to help us raise the funds necessary to get us over the finish line!! This matching grant will double any donation you make to Purple Line NOW (up to $5,000). Our donor has agreed to continue the matching grant into the new year - so, if you haven't yet had a chance to donate, we hope you will consider doing so. 

See a list of our generous donors at the link!

We are grateful to everyone who has taken a moment to remember Purple Line NOW in your holiday giving these past few weeks. (Please note: all donations that came in since November WILL count toward the matching grant challenge!)

As we mentioned in our previous newsletter ---- our mission is clear, but we must find more funding to bridge us up to ribbon-cutting day. Our benefactor wants to stress that donors are welcome to honor anyone who may have inspired them to activism, tributes to early volunteers, civil servants, and/or boosters who may have had to step back. They are all in our thoughts as we make this appeal to you.

And, there’s even more to this outreach of generosity!

This is not a one-time matching grant ---- our anonymous donor will match three-year pledges, as well as one-time donations. With your help, this will provide the financial support Purple Line NOW needs for advocacy work until the first ride when our group will disband, having achieved its goal!

Purple Line NOW needs, on average, about $20,000 a year to accomplish its work, producing a bi-weekly newsletter, hosting free educational events, team meetings, and helping the community get answers to its construction-related questions. We rarely hold special events to raise money as we have always been funded by the generosity of donors who step up when the need arises.

We have three years to go and hope you’ll join us on the final leg of our journey! All Aboard!

Share This Newsletter

Please feel free to share this newsletter - no permission from us needed! You can always find a link to our newsletter on our Purple Line NOW website which makes it easy to share with your friends, neighbors, constituents, customers, and employees.

CONSTRUCTION NEWS TO KNOW

A Look Back at 2019

Happy New Year! This new decade brings us another year closer to riding the Purple Line! As has become tradition here at Purple Line NOW News, we want to take a moment to look back at the previous year to see what the top Purple Line stories were and the progress the project has made.

10. The topping out of the Glenridge Operations and Maintenance Facility (OMF)

Back in July, the Purple Line reached another milestone with the topping out of the OMF building with the ceremonial signing of the final beam before it was placed into position atop the facility. You may remember, we highlighted the building in the July 17 edition of Purple Line NOW News. While the building is not a perfect rectangle, its longest section is 358 feet and its widest, 277 feet. For (American) football fans, that’s roughly the same as two football fields laid side to side!

Photo courtesy of MDOT MTA and PLTP

9. Announcement of Two-Phase 2022 Opening

In September, Maryland Transit officials announced that the Purple Line would open in two phases, the first in Prince George’s county in 2022, and the full line opening in early 2023. While location of the first segment has not been announced, it will likely include the section of the line that will contain the two-mile test track being built along Veterans Parkway.

8. Montgomery County Steps Up for Trees Along the Right-Of-Way

The Purple Line construction involves some loss of trees along the right-of-way. In addition to the environmental benefits of taking an estimated 17,000 cars off the road, the consortium will be planting new trees in the watershed for all those lost, including dozens of flowering and overstory trees along Wayne Avenue. Much of the land along the right-of-way is private property, and the consortium does not have authority to plant trees there, but fortunately Tree Montgomery and other programs are stepping up with funding to make sure neighbors who want new trees have the resources they need. Check out the December 5 edition Purple Line NOW News for a list of resources.

7. Art in Transit

Mid-year, the artwork for the Purple Line was announced for many of the stations. MDOT MTA Purple Line says that the mission of the Art-in-Transit program is, “to make public art an integral element of the transit project and to further enhance the Purple Line's high-quality stations, aesthetic treatments and landscape designs.” The designs debuted certainly meet that mission. If you haven’t had a chance to look at these, they can be found here.

6. Housing Action Plan Released

At the end of the year, the Purple Line Corridor Coalition released their housing action plan, which will help preserve affordability along the Purple Line route in both Prince George’s and Montgomery counties. According totheir press release, the Housing Action Plan outlines a “pathway toward preserving housing affordability along the planned Purple Line route, which currently contains at least 17,000 homes affordable to families earning less than $70,000 per year. The Plan contains 12 specific recommendations to work in concert with existing policies and programs and is designed to help ensure that existing and future individuals and families of all income levels benefit from the 16-mile Purple Line light rail upon its completion in 2023.”

5. A Bridge Opens, A Bridge Closes

In January, the new Lyttonsville Place Bridge was opened to traffic. The old bridge, which was constructed in 1966, had exceeded its useful life, so the need for a new bridge because of the project was fortuitous. In recent years, access was restricted to heavier vehicles due to its deteriorating condition. If the bridge was not being replaced as part of construction on the Purple Line, the county would have needed to spend several million dollars to replace the deck.

Photo Courtesy of MDOT MTA and PLTP

As you know, a year and a half ago, the historic Talbot Avenue Bridge was deconstructed to make way for a stronger and wider bridge with sidewalks. The Purple Line will pass under the new bridge, next to the CSX tracks. The new bridge, as well as the Lyttonsville station itself, will incorporate elements from the historic bridge.

4. Mike Madden Retires

In October, after 48 years of public service, 36 of which has been with MTA, Purple Line Deputy Project Director for the Maryland Transit Administration, Mike Madden retired. Purple Line NOW Vice President Greg Sanders praised Madden's tenacity, "He represented the project at thousands of meetings with the public, in good times and bad, bore the attacks of opponents and heard the concerns of those who would face disruption. All of that is hard work and often resists easy solutions. We are grateful for his years of labor as a public servant."

Mike Madden with Barbara Sanders and Greg Sanders

Mike leaves the project in good and steady hands with his successor, Gary Witherspoon, Purple Line Assistant Director of Public Outreach and Communications who has been the state transportation spokesman at MDOT MTA and a valuable part of the Community Advisory Team (CAT) meetings and our own Purple Line NOW forums.

3. First Look at Purple Line Light Rail Vehicle (LRV)

There were a lot of firsts in 2019, and getting a peek at one of the new LRV's inside the factory is an exciting way to remind us that we will be riding one of these cars in just a few short years! We think they’re beautiful and they are also huge! Each train will be 136-feet-long per five segment railcar – the longest transit LRV in America. Whoa!

Photo Courtesy of MDOT MTA and PLTP

2. Break-through of Tunnel Excavation

In February, the project hit another milestone when crews broke through a 1,000-foot tunnel between Arliss Street and Wayne Street to the future Silver Spring station. The excavation took 8 ½ months and was ahead of schedule. It is always an exciting day when these breakthroughs occur and this was no exception!

Watch the video of the breakthrough here: WTOP.

And, finally, drumroll please!

1. First Purple Line Tracks Are Placed

After much deliberation, our group deemed the laying of the first tracks in September as the most significant visual representation of the project to date. The tracks represent so much in terms of the hard work the crews, the community, and our volunteers have given month in and month out, some for decades, and some no longer with us, to see this project become a reality. It is the first visual sign that says, “The train is coming! All aboard!”

Photo Courtesy of MDOT MTA and PLTP

We hope you've enjoyed this recap of a busy year for the Purple Line. There were many more stories to write about (and we have! You can find all of our newsletters on our website at the link.) From smaller projects, the ever-present utility reconstruction, to demo, retaining walls, and landscaping plans - all progress matters. Here's to more in 2020!

PURPLE LINE NOW NEWS AND EVENTS

• Next Purple Line NOW forum will happen in late winter/early spring. The title will be: Getting Ready for the First Purple Line Ride! We have lots of beans to spill about what will surely be an educational and interesting evening for both Montgomery and Prince George's counties. Stay tuned for location, date, and how to reserve your seat. All the details coming soon!

PURPLE LINE NOW ACTION

Can You Help Purple Line NOW Continue Its Work?

If you haven't already given this year, would you consider a donation to Purple Line NOW? Right now, we will double your donation (thanks to a generous donor who has offered a matching grant for every single donation, up to $5,000!) See above for details on how to donate. Thank you!

Get Connected!

Make sure you are signed up for timely alerts from Purple Line NOW via our Twitter and Facebook pages, and at our website Purple Line NOW.

In this, our last Purple Line NOW News edition for 2019, we want to take a moment to wish each of you a safe and happy holiday season! Purple Line NOW News will resume its production schedule after the New Year.

In today's edition of Purple Line NOW News, here's what you'll find:

• The First Purple Line Train Ride
• Welcome to Gary Witherspoon
• Welcome to Greg Slater

The First Purple Line Train Ride

We hope you saw our email last week announcing that ---- a donor has come forward with a matching grant challenge and has offered a way to help us raise the funds necessary to get us over the finish line!! This matching grant will double any donation you make to Purple Line NOW (up to $5,000).

This matching challenge is being done as a tribute to those who worked so hard in those early years to make this project a reality, some of whom are no longer with us and sadly won’t be able to take the first ride they dreamed of with us. We have already received some very poignant donations in honor of extraordinary folks who have worked hard to make our Purple Line dreams come true. We'll be highlighting those tributes in an upcoming newsletter.

To get the ball rolling, we started with three folks whose names are synonymous with the Purple Line, namely Harry Sanders, Barbara Steckel, and Keith Haller. You can read all about these amazing folks and details about the challenge grant in our recent blast.  

We are grateful to everyone who has taken a moment to remember Purple Line NOW in your holiday giving these past few weeks. (Please note: all donations that came in since November WILL count toward the matching grant challenge!)

As we mentioned in our previous newsletter, we are at a difficult crossroads ---- our mission is clear, but we must find more funding to bridge us up to ribbon-cutting day. Our benefactor wants to stress that donors are welcome to honor anyone who may have inspired them to activism, tributes to early volunteers, civil servants, and/or boosters who may have had to step back. They are all in our thoughts as we make this appeal to you.

And, there’s even more to this outreach of generosity!

This is not a one-time matching grant ---- our anonymous donor will match three-year pledges, as well as one-time donations. With your help, this will provide the financial support Purple Line NOW needs for advocacy work until the first ride when our group will disband, having achieved its goal!

If you let us know who you are thinking of as you donate, we’ll make sure to list them and a little bit about their service on our website. 

With Harry, Barbara, and Keith in mind, and countless others, we ask you to make a donation to Purple Line NOW and, if possible, consider extending that donation over three years. So, for example, you might make a $300 total pledge at $100 per year for the next three years. Our matching donor will double that each year! We appreciate all levels of donations. Every dollar helps us get to opening day.

Purple Line NOW needs, on average, about $20,000 a year to accomplish its work, producing a bi-weekly newsletter, hosting free educational events, team meetings, and helping the community get answers to its construction-related questions. We rarely hold special events to raise money as we have always been funded by the generosity of donors who step up when the need arises.

We have three years to go and hope you’ll join us on the final leg of our journey! All Aboard!

DONATE

Share This Newsletter

Please feel free to share this newsletter - no permission from us needed! You can always find a link to our newsletter on our Purple Line NOW website which makes it easy to share with your friends, neighbors, constituents, customers, and employees.

CONSTRUCTION NEWS TO KNOW

Welcome Greg Slater

Earlier this month, Governor Hogan appointed Greg Slater as Secretary of Transportation for Maryland, pending Senate confirmation. Once confirmed, Mr. Slater will assume his role on January 10, 2020. He succeeds Pete Rahn who has held that post since 2015.

A native of Maryland (and a graduate of Towson University), Mr. Slater has been serving as Administrator of the State Highway Administration since 2017. He has spent 20 years working within Maryland's Department of Transportation with a focus on planning and engineering. We look forward to working with Mr. Slater as the project moves toward its first ride.

Welcome to Gary Witherspoon

Gary Witherspoon is the Purple Line's new Deputy Project Director, overseeing outreach on the project for the Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Transit Administration (MDOT MTA). He joined the Purple Line in July 2018, as Assistant Director of Communications & Outreach, after serving more than two years as Senior Writer & Public Affairs Manager in the office of MDOT Secretary Pete Rahn. He is a Baltimore native and graduate of Dartmouth College, with a certificate in Multicultural Management from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. A trained facilitator, he is a former award-winning journalist who during a 30-year career either wrote or edited for Newsday (Long Island, NY), The Boston Globe, The Baltimore Sun, The Boston Herald, The New Bedford Standard-Times (Massachusetts), and the Southbridge (Massachusetts) News.

Gary has been a familiar face at many (if not all) of Purple Line NOW's forums. We welcome him and look forward to working with him and his team in the coming years.

PURPLE LINE NOW NEWS AND EVENTS

• Next Purple Line NOW Forum: Stay tuned for an announcement of the next Purple Line NOW forum happening late winter 2020!

PURPLE LINE NOW ACTION

Can You Help Purple Line NOW Continue Its Work?

If you haven't already given this year, would you consider a donation to Purple Line NOW? Right now, we will double your donation (thanks to a generous donor who has offered a matching grant for every single donation, up to $5,000!) See above for details on how to donate. Thank you!

Get Connected!

Make sure you are signed up for timely alerts from Purple Line NOW via our Twitter and Facebook pages, and at our website Purple Line NOW.

With the first Purple Line train due to leave the station in late 2022, we have some extraordinary news ---- a donor has come forward with a matching grant challenge and has offered a way to help us raise the funds necessary to get us over the finish line!!

This matching challenge is being done as a tribute to those who worked so hard in those early years to make this project a reality, some of whom are no longer with us and sadly won’t be able to take the first ride they dreamed of with us. Read on to see three whose hard work, perseverance, and elbow grease built the support and outreach to steer the way for the project becoming a reality.

Our donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, will match your donations up to $5,000!! Details of how this all works are at the end of the email, so please keep reading.

We are grateful to everyone who has taken a moment to remember Purple Line NOW in your holiday giving these past few weeks. (Please note: any donations that came in over the past month WILL count toward the matching grant challenge!) 

As we mentioned in our previous newsletter, we are at a difficult crossroads ---- our mission is clear, but we must find more funding to bridge us up to ribbon-cutting day.

Our benefactor wants to stress that donors are welcome to honor anyone who may have inspired them to activism, tributes to early volunteers, civil servants, and/or boosters who may have had to step back. They are all in our thoughts as we make this appeal to you.

And, there’s even more to this outreach of generosity!

This is not a one-time matching grant ---- our anonymous donor will match three-year pledges, as well as one-time donations. With your help, this will provide the financial support Purple Line NOW needs for advocacy work until the first ride when our group will disband, having achieved its goal!

If you let us know who you are thinking of as you donate, we’ll make sure to list them and a little bit about their service on our website. See the three below whose names are synonymous with the Purple Line, but we know there are so many more that deserve recognition and we hope you'll help us highlight them, too!

Harry Sanders conceived of the idea for a connecting spoke to WMATA’s metro that would serve the Maryland bi-county sector, providing much needed access to transit for residents and workers alike. Harry’s son, Greg Sanders, who is Purple Line NOW’s Vice President, grew up with parents who dedicated their volunteer hours to making the project a reality. In the photo above, Harry and his wife Barbara are at the New Carrollton Metro just after hearing that the Purple Line was named the local preferred option in 2009. Zoom in to see the signs they are holding in their arms! Harry’s approach to advocacy was to nudge, cajole, and educate in a gentle and helpful way. That philosophy lives with all of our Purple Line NOW volunteers to this day.

Barbara Steckel was President of the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County and actively lobbied the General Assembly on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Maryland on a variety of issues. She was an avid supporter of the Purple Line and tried to convince the County Council not to rebuild the old railroad bridge over Rock Creek Park or to improve the railroad grade that the county had purchased for what was then to be called the Georgetown Branch Trolley. She was worried that users of the improved trail would become so enamored with it that they would be angry when light rail construction began and would fight the project. 

Keith Haller, a longtime advocate of the line and former Purple Line NOW Board Member, provided critical analysis, access to elected officials who could help, and a walking encyclopedia of how the process would work and how we could best position ourselves to help educate and encourage the community to come around to the idea of this light rail project. Keith’s big ideas, as he used to call them in our meetings, helped us see the bigger picture and reach “onward and upward” ---- a favorite phrase of Mr. Haller’s that we heard often.

With those three in mind, and countless others, we ask you to make a donation to Purple Line NOW and if possible, consider extending that donation over three years. So, for example, you might make a $300 total pledge at $100 per year for the next three years. And, our matching donor will double that each year! We appreciate all levels of donations. Every dollar helps us get to opening day.

For those of you unfamiliar with matching challenges, here are the details:

Our donor has offered to match EVERY donation, dollar for dollar, up to $5,000 per year for three years. This is a way for you to DOUBLE your donation! See, we told you it was big news!

And, the donor has generously agreed to match any donations that came in from individuals in the past few weeks, as well. We are grateful.

Purple Line NOW needs, on average, about $20,000 a year to accomplish its work, producing a bi-weekly newsletter, hosting free educational events, team meetings, and helping the community get answers to its construction-related questions. We rarely hold special events to raise money as we have always been funded by the generosity of donors who step up when the need arises.

We have three years to go and hope you’ll join us on the final leg of our journey! All Aboard!

DONATE