Despite chemotherapy treatments starting as soon as possible, Gov. Larry Hogan is expected to still make his much-anticipated decision on the future of the Purple Line light-rail by the end of the month.
Hogan spokesperson Doug Mayer told The Washington Post that Hogan will make the decision by the end of the month.
Last week, a spokesperson for Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett said Hogan hasn’t told the county if it’ll be saddled with a bigger share of the cost of the estimated $2.45 billion project or if there would be any cuts made to save costs.
Hogan announced in a Monday press conference that he has B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and that he would start undergoing a rigorous chemotherapy treatment as soon as possible. He is expected to survive and will remain as governor, with Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford filling in at times.
After the press conference, state Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn told a reporter he wouldn’t be talking Monday about how Hogan’s condition impacts the Purple Line decision.
“Today’s about the governor,” Rahn said.
A spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Transportation didn’t return requests for comment Tuesday.
On Saturday, as Montgomery County opened its new Silver Spring Library, Leggett stood at the planned spot of a Purple Line station and told a crowd of hundreds that he was waiting for the decision.
The library was built with a cantilevered design in which the top three floors of the 90,000-square- foot building overhang the Purple Line station area. If the light-rail is built, library users will be able to step off the train and quickly enter the new library.
“I’m going to indulge you for just one moment because I’m going to take a photograph,” Legget said, addressing the crowd. “The photograph will be of this scene right here, where also the new Purple Line will come and I’m going to send this photograph to our governor to let him know that we are waiting, that Silver Spring needs it, that it is important and that it goes very well with this new Silver Spring Library.”
Local officials say the system will bring economic development, link Montgomery and Prince George’s counties and provide a transit alternative to rush hour commuters who travel across the county.
