Update: at almost the same time this went to post, it was announced that there will be a groundbreaking ceremony for the Purple Line in Hyattsville on Monday at 10am. [I worry that this is a bit premature, without an FFA and a resolution to the law suit, this would be really embarrassing if one of those falls through. Sort of like the ground breaking ceremony for the Anacostia Starter Line in 2004.
The Capital Crescent Trail extension project, often referred to as the Purple Line, has made some small progress since the project hit a major roadblock in 2016 when a judge vacated approval of the project.
Last month, it was announced that a U.S. Senate transportation spending plan included $100 million to build the purple line. That is not the same as the money being approved or allocated or anything. Right now it is just a gleam in Chris Van Hollen's eye, but it's a start.
The state can’t receive any federal money for the Purple Line until, or unless, it signs a multiyear Full Funding Grant Agreement with the U.S. Transportation Department.
The congressional ban on earmarks prevents money from being explicitly designated to individual projects. However, Van Hollen said, the bill includes “funding sufficient to support the Purple Line,” with $100 million in fiscal 2018, which starts Oct. 1.
In the meantime, work has restarted since the Court of Appeals restored federal approval of the Purple Line project, pending the results of Maryland's appeal.
The work includes soil boring, surveying, design reviews, steps to purchase additional land needed for the project, and work on specific construction contracts.
And the legal fight continues
[In early August], the opponents filed a motion asking the lower court judge who had blocked the project to hold it up again, despite the fact that the appeals court has put his ruling on hold until a three-judge panel can hear full arguments.
This week, Judge Richard Leon denied that motion and called some of the arguments in it “bald statement[s]” that appeared to go beyond the facts.
The opponents of the line have now filed their own appeal of Leon’s final ruling that challenges the parts that went against them.
And Randall O'Toole has crawled out of his lair to hurl insanity at the project. Ridesharing and robot cars are going to make transit useless soon.
This means it makes no sense for Maryland or anyone else to build new light-rail lines. Construction of the Purple Line would barely be completed before most of its potential customers are taken away by shared driverless cars.
This is the same reason you don't need to quit smoking - because cancer is going to be totally cured before you need to worry about it. O'Toole goes on to state that "the Purple Line has been presented as a solution to congestion". Of course, that's a lie. Here are the stated purposes of the Purple Line:
• Provide faster, more direct, and more reliable east-west transit service connecting the major activity centers in the Purple Line corridor at Bethesda, Silver Spring, Takoma/Langley Park, College Park, and New Carrollton,
• Provide better connections to Metrorail services located in the corridor, and
• Improve connectivity to the communities in the corridor located between the Metrorail lines.
Furthermore, the reason that travel speeds slightly increase is that the MWCOG travel demand model doesn't take into account changing density patterns that are not on the regional plan. The "no build" analysis does not count people moving farther away and having to drive, and the transit analysis does not count increased density near Purple Line stations soaking up that population increase. He finishes by claiming that the state determined that buses would meet all the project goals at a lower cost (spoiler: it didn't) and that light rail never spurred development.
Despite that, there is more positive news. DOJ attorneys filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. arguing that Leon's ruling should be overturned.
The plaintiffs have until Sept. 8 to submit their brief in response to the federal government’s argument.
Oral arguments in the case could take place as soon as this fall. The court order for the expedited briefing schedule notes that the clerk will schedule the arguments “on the first appropriate date” after both sides submit their briefings.
Other than the ruling, the only other barrier is the funding agreement, and progress is being made there as well.
A federal funding agreement for a 16-mile light rail project in the traffic-choked suburbs of the nation’s capital is expected to be signed “in the very near future,” a spokesman for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said
If the case is settled in the fall, is it to early to hope that the project is underway by the end of the year?
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