More Stations, Bigger Welcome for Purple Line Plans

The possible addition of more transit stations to the proposed Purple Line through the Maryland suburbs is drawing praise from some Prince George's County residents, in part because many more people along its path could be within walking distance of a stop.

The Maryland Transit Administration announced recently that it had made several significant changes to its study of a 16-mile light rail or rapid bus line between Bethesda and New Carrollton. Those changes include increasing the number of stations from 12 to as many as 21, and the study identifies 23 possible locations. They would be about eight-tenths of a mile apart and would include the existing Metro stops at Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park and New Carrollton.

In Prince George's, stations that were not part of the original plan but are now under consideration would be at the intersection of University Boulevard and Adelphi Road on the western edge of the University of Maryland campus, on Baltimore Avenue on the eastern edge of campus, and on River Road near the M Square development in College Park.

Michael D. Madden, the state's project manager for the Purple Line study, said planners had initially assumed riders would use the line to travel long distances between suburban Metro stations without having to ride through the District. He said they have recently discovered that many people, particularly in densely populated areas, would use a transit line for shorter trips that they now must make by bus.

Increasing the number of stops for light rail trains or express buses would mean slower travel overall, Madden said. Even so, he said, having more stations would allow more people to be served, and a Purple Line would still be faster than buses stuck in traffic.

"You may have slower speeds," Madden said, "but you could pick up more people along the way."

Webb Smedley, a leader of the Coalition to Build the Inner Purple Line, said that additional stations, though perhaps not as many as nine, are important to the success of the project. "Having something going through a two-mile area with no stops, I just think the opposition would be tremendous and the benefit would be too little for the neighborhoods through which it passes," he said.

Unlike in Montgomery County, where some residents have complained that a Purple Line would diminish the natural beauty of the Capital Crescent Trail along which it could run, there has been little organized opposition in Prince George's County, according to County Council member Eric Olson (D-College Park).

"I've had a lot of great feedback. People are very eager to see it happen," said Olson, whose district includes New Carrollton and other areas that would be affected by the transit line. The only complaint he has heard, he said, "is that it's not happening fast enough."

As it travels through the county, the Purple Line as now envisioned would generally be built at grade in the right of way of existing roads, some of which would need to be widened, state and county planners said.

One point of contention is at the University of Maryland, where administrators have expressed concern that an aboveground train could endanger pedestrians along busy Campus Drive, the school's main road, where a transit line probably would go. Students, many of whom are eager to see a transit line run through campus, have objected that insistence on costly tunneling could hurt the project's chances of being built.

Also challenging to planners has been locating a site for a maintenance yard near the New Carrollton Station, mapping a route through the congested area near Kenilworth Avenue and East West Highway, and linking the Purple Line to existing Metro stops at College Park and New Carrollton, where private development is planned.

"We just have to make sure we can make a good connection and they preserve space for the Purple Line," Madden said of the development challenge.

The county is also studying the possibility of extending the proposed Purple Line south to National Harbor, said Eric Foster, supervisor of transportation planning in the county Panning Department. "It's very long-range," he said.

Delia Aguilar, a community organizer for Casa de Maryland, based in Langley Park, said the possibility of more transit stops is good news for the densely populated area, where many residents can't afford cars.

She said residents who rely on public transportation often complain that they must spend up to three hours each way commuting to Bethesda, Rockville or Gaithersburg on a series of buses.

"Having faster transportation will sure be more than welcome for people in the Langley Park area," said Aguilar, whose organization assists immigrants.

A Purple Line as the state envisions it is estimated to cost between $360 million and $1.6 billion, depending on whether it would be a bus or rail system and how much tunneling would be required. The state's draft environmental impact study, evaluating different routes and the relative merits of light rail and rapid bus systems, is scheduled to be completed next spring.

The state plans to conduct informational programs for the public this fall. If the project receives federal funding, it would not start operating until the summer of 2015 at the earliest, Madden said.