False Alarm Over Project Delays

Studies for Purple Line, Shady Grove-Clarksburg Link on Track

Angry e-mails flew. Transit activists cried foul. Montgomery County politicians said they were alarmed and wanted answers.

Word spread over the weekend that studies of two proposed transit projects aimed at easing traffic in the Maryland suburbs -- a Metro Purple Line and a transit link between Shady Grove and Clarksburg -- would be delayed at least two years.

But Maryland Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan said yesterday that there is nothing to worry about. The misunderstanding stemmed from a "technical glitch" in a state budget document that would be fixed, he said. "The studies have not been delayed and will not be delayed," Flanagan said.

News of potential delays surfaced last week, when a staff member at the Montgomery planning department compared a draft of the Maryland Transportation Department's most recent six-year spending plan with last year's plan. The state circulates the phone book-size document each fall for local officials to review before making it part of Maryland's transportation budget.

Potential transit projects are a sensitive subject in a region plagued by some of the worst traffic in the nation. With construction of an intercounty connector highway scheduled to begin next year, the Purple Line has become the latest hot topic, particularly among politicians courting traffic-weary voters this fall.

The Purple Line, a light-rail or express bus line also called the Bi-County Transitway, would run 14 miles between Bethesda and New Carrollton, with stops in Silver Spring and College Park. The Corridor Cities Transitway, also a light-rail or rapid bus line, would run 13.5 miles along Interstate 270 between the Shady Grove Metro station and just south of Clarksburg.

Flanagan said a Maryland Transit Administration staff member had tried to fix a "perceived cash flow problem" in the planning money for both projects. To fix a $6 million shortage with the Purple Line and a $3 million shortage with the Corridor Cities Transitway, the staff member stretched the money allotted to each over two additional years. The total allotted to both studies didn't change -- $30.8 million for the Purple Line and $11 million for the Corridor Cities.

"Essentially, somebody in a low-level accounting position was sort of juggling the books and moved that money around," Flanagan said. "It didn't get caught by the policymakers who should have caught it. That's why we have a draft, so we can fix those kinds of things."

Flanagan said the state will get the money from other projects or bond revenue to keep both studies on schedule.

Draft environmental studies for both projects should be finished by the middle of next year, and both could be ready for construction to begin in 2010 or 2011, he said. The environmental studies would determine routes and whether the "transit" option would be light rail or buses. Then state officials would have to decide whether, or how, to pay for them.

Montgomery officials said they were happy to hear their concern was for naught.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson, when told Flanagan said the studies would not be delayed after all. "You saved me from writing an impassioned letter. That's good news indeed."