This Tuesday, the Montgomery County Council unanimously supported a light rail Purple Line to connect Maryland’s inner Washington suburbs (Nice WaPo summary by Katherine Shaver). The line runs through Prince George’s county whose Council already fully supports the proposal. They also approved a study of single tracking for a few parts of the soon to be rail trail. I don’t see that happening. There’s a reason the words “single tracking” strike fear in the hearts of Metro commuters.
The decision to go forward with the project is now in the hands of Maryland’s Governor O’Malley. That said, if we get an infrastructure bill that appreciates transit more than the stimulus, than things definitely get easier.
There’s a lot of people who worked very hard for to reach this step. Politicians, transit activists, and environmentalists have all made it possible. I’m grateful to all of them and many are even friends of the family. But I think they’ll forgive me if I focus for a moment on the work my father has done. He’s been trying to get the Purple Line, or its earlier incarnation the Georgetown Branch, for most of my life. Jay Walljasper, writing for the AARP, was kind enough to briefly profile him along with two others in a recent bulletin. The photo is by Chris Mueller of Redux, I think he did a rather good job. Amusingly enough that was the location they spent the least time at, because Silver Spring’s Metro platform can get rather cold. I’ve long watched all the work this has taken, I’ve helped with part of it, I’m proud of my Dad and of all of you.
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