Mark Your Calendars Now and Reserve Your Seat for the Next Forum

We are very excited to announce the next forum in our Envisioning the Purple Line series will be held at City Hall in College Park on January 10, 2019, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

We have a terrific slate of speakers - if you live in, study in, play in, or work in College Park - you won't want to miss this informative forum!

Attendance, as always, is free and open to the public and media, but your seat must be reserved in advance. Seating is limited to the first 100 folks with reservations, so make sure to save your seat!

We have an amazing slate of knowledgeable and insightful speakers for you - so come and hear what is happening right now in College Park and what is on the horizon once the project is completed. The speakers for this forum will include College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn, Purple Line Transit Partners CEO Fred Craig, Bradley Frome, Assistant Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Prince George's County Economic Development & Public Infrastructure, and representatives from both University of Maryland University College and The University of Maryland. We will keep you informed of additional speakers as we line them up. As you can see, this is going to be a very informative evening for the community and we hope you will join us!

Media is invited and inquiries can be made to Christine Scott,[email protected].

Become a Sponsor and Help Us Continue These Terrific Events

Purple Line NOW exists because generous individuals, businesses, and organizations support us by becoming a sponsor of the Envisioning the Purple Line series. The financial support we receive from your sponsorship allows us to put on these events, provide educational newsletters and information about ongoing construction issues, and keep abreast of any hurdles along the way.

Please take a moment to become a sponsor - your name will appear at all events and on all promotional materials for a year following your donation. Here are our terrific sponsors to date - we hope you will consider adding your name to this awesome list! The benefits of sponsorship are listed on our website and donating is easy - just follow this link: I'd like to become a sponsor. There are several levels of sponsorship - and we appreciate them all! Thank you for your support.

CONSTRUCTION NEWS TO KNOW

Median Removal Begins on University Boulevard

Construction has finally found its way to the International Corridor of University Boulevard, one of the last remaining areas along the corridor where construction activity was not readily apparent.

For the last few weeks, crews have been working to remove the medians along University Boulevard between Riggs Road and Adelphi Road in Prince George’s County. Similar to Kenilworth Avenue, the Purple Line will run in the median of University Boulevard, thus necessitating the removal of the existing median.

An excavator removes median and places rubble into a waiting dump truck

The removal of the median is the first step towards a complete overhaul of University Boulevard. When all is said and done, University Boulevard will be reduced from three lanes in each direction to two, and the pedestrian and cyclist facilities will be much improved. The sidewalks on University Boulevard are, for the most part, 4 feet wide and directly against the roadway; however, construction of the Purple Line offers an opportunity to set the sidewalks back from the road and to widen them. The sidewalks will be widened to five feet or more depending on the available right-of-way, and they will be buffered from traffic by green space or by the five-foot bikes lanes which will run the entire length of University Boulevard.

In addition, the road reconstruction will fill in several gaps in the sidewalk network along the north side of University Boulevard in the Adelphi area, thereby enhancing access to the nearby recreational facilities, including an archery range, cricket field, and neighborhood pool.

Road work stretches all the way to edge of University of Maryland, College Park campus, pictured in distance

Median removal has not begun on the portion of University Boulevard that lies in Montgomery County, but the medians there will also have to be removed and reconstructed as part of the project.

PURPLE LINE NOW NEWS AND EVENTS

Upcoming Community Advisory Team (CAT) Meetings

• Bethesda - November 27, Bethesda Chevy Chase High School (Cafeteria) 4301 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814 from 6:30 – 8 pm.
• Glenridge – November 29,  Purple Line Project Office (6811 Kenilworth Avenue - 1st Floor Training Room, Riverdale, MD 20737 from 6:30 – 8 pm.
• Lyttonsville – December 4, Rosemary Hills Elementary School (All Purpose Room) 2111 Porter Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910 from 7 – 8:30 pm.
• University Boulevard – December 6, Langley Park-McCormick Elementary School, (Multi-Purpose Room), 8201 15th Avenue, Langley Park, MD 20783 from 6:30 – 8 pm.

The Purple Line Parades Again in Silver Spring

This Saturday, November 17, the Purple Line will be making its annual appearance at the Silver Spring Thanksgiving Parade. If you haven't had a chance yet to participate in this fun civic tradition, the thanksgiving parade involves a wide mix: bands, floats, elected officials, cute dogs, and our very own Purple Line! If you come and wave at us, we'll try to make sure you get a sticker. If you want to be part of the fun and join the train, plan to wear layers (it will be cold!), don all the Purple you have and join us in the Ellsworth garage staging area no later than 9:30 am. Note: this is a good day to walk or use transit as the open parking garages fill up fast. Reach out to our friends at the Action Committee for Transit who are organizing the event to get more information and let them know if you can join us.

PURPLE LINE NOW ACTION

Please feel free to share this bi-weekly newsletter with others who may appreciate information about the project. As always, if you have any feedback on how we can improve the newsletter, drop us a line! 

If you find the information contained in our newsletter useful, please consider a donation to us - we are a not-for-profit organization with an active group of volunteers and one quarter-time employee. We operate on a bare-bones budget and appreciate every donation we receive.

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