Transit Community and Business Leaders Applaud Governor Hogan's Decision to Build the Purple Line!
Silver Spring, MD - After decades of hard work by environmental and transit activists and political, community, and business leaders, the Purple Line is poised to break ground within a year. Today, Governor Hogan gave the green light to the project, describing the line as long term investment in Maryland's economic future. Initial details released by Secretary of Transportation, Pete Rahn are promising and we look forward to learning more. While we believe the Purple Line provided superb return on value even as originally proposed, we are eager to work with the Governor, Secretary Rahn, as well as civil servants and elected officials at all levels of government, concessionaires, and communities, to ensure a speedy and quality completion of the project.
This is a great victory for Maryland, Purple Line NOW and its partners, including the Chambers of Commerce from Prince George's and Montgomery Counties, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Silver Spring, as well as the Washington Board of Trade, labor unions such as ATU Local 689, the Suburban Maryland Transportation Alliance, the economic partners of the Purple Line, and our civic and individual supporters who have work so long to see the line built.
We also are eager for details regarding the additional contributions requested from the counties. Montgomery and Prince George's had already committed to hundreds of millions of in-kind and direct support. The Purple Line is vital to the future of both counties and we will work with them and the state.
Our work does not end when ground is broken and given the changes implemented by the Governor, we intend to redouble our efforts to work with the Maryland Department of Transportation to ensure the project provides a high quality transit line and trail available to the people of Maryland for decades to come.
Advocates with Purple Line NOW, a transit advocacy group established more than 20 years ago to support the building of the Purple Line, are certainly encouraged that the Governor has heard that evidence, listened to the good advice of his staff, and agreed that, in order to bring more jobs to the region, the Purple Line must be a part of the equation.
"In his well-received inauguration speech, the Governor vowed to improve economic growth for the region," said Ralph Bennett, President of Purple Line NOW, "and today, we offer our help in breaking ground on the project by the end of the year while advocating for quality and careful planning." Bennett went on to say, "all of Maryland can champion the project as a clear harbinger of economic health and prosperity."
