The Purple Line Project

Focus on: The Purple Line

January 19, 2021: FOSC sent a letter to Chairman Kumar Barve of the MD House Environmental and Transportation Committee expressing strong support for HB 80 which would fund tree replacement along the Purple Line where majestic old oaks and other species were cut down last year. The Bill was written by Delegate Lorig Charkoudian. See the full letter on the Letters and Testimony page.

Dec 11, 2020: The Central Maryland Transportation Alliance, of which FOSC is a part, sent a letter urging the members of the Board of Public Works – the Maryland Governor, Treasurer and Comptroller – to “approve the $250 million settlement for the Purple Line, to endorse the Transit Safety & Investment Act [HB 368, SB 424], and to do everything in your power to ensure that the MTA receives no less than $500 million in capital funding annually.” See the full letter on the Letters and Testimony page.

Between 2014 and 2020: Since that original coalition letter in July 2014, the Purple Line has proceeded, not without big hiccups primarily on cost overruns. FOSC got added to two different Citizen Advisory Teams – one in Silver Spring and the other in Long Branch. This gave us somewhat better leverage to raise the concerns we have had as the project has progressed. There were meetings every half year or so.

In addition, despite the intransigence of the state of MD in refusing to do stormwater retrofits to the entire area that was to be dug up and reconstructed, we worked with Parks to get additional stormwater projects done, particularly where Long Branch crosses Piney Branch and the future Purple Line.

July 2014: FOSC and several other watershed groups wrote to the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) about the lack of stormwater mitigation plans in the Purple Line project. The letter asks the MTA to abide by the Montgomery County Stormwater Management Criteria, which requires “capture and infiltration as the first priority, and effective stormwater management whether on-site or off-site, for all the impervious surfaces related to a given project.” See the full letter on the Letters and Testimony page.