The Purple Line page in the list of 50 infrastructure projects reportedly prioritized by Trump team.
The Purple Line that’s planned to run from Bethesda to New Carrollton is on a list of 50 infrastructure projects nationwide that could be pursued by President Donald Trump as he follows through on a campaign promise to invest heavily in transportation improvements in the U.S.
The list was detailed in a McClatchy news report published Tuesday.
The “priority list” notes the 50 projects would cost about $137.5 billion, with private investment accounting for 50 percent of the cost. The Maryland Purple Line is No. 23 on the list, which notes it could create 5,000 jobs and that engineering work as well as 95 percent of the permitting process has been completed for the 16.2-mile light-rail line project. The Purple Line is estimated to cost $5.6 billion to construct, maintain and operate under a 36-year contract with the state’s private partner Purple Line Transit Partners.
The projects chosen on the list had to meet specific criteria, according to the McClathcy report, which includes having a national security benefit, being “shovel-ready,” serving as a job creator and having the potential for increasing U.S. manufacturing.
The list could foreshadow Trump’s support for the Purple Line, which has garnered bipartisan support in the state—including from Republican Gov. Larry Hogan and the county executives of Montgomery County and Prince George’s counties, who are both Democrats. The federal government has already allocated $900 million in funding for the project.
If built, the rail line would provide an east-west transit line that connects Bethesda with New Carrollton in Prince George’s County along a network of 21 stations.
The Maryland Transit Administration was set to break ground to start construction on the light-rail line last year, but the project has been stalled because of an ongoing federal lawsuit. A federal judge vacated the project’s federal approval in August after concerns raised by the plaintiffs that Metro’s safety issues and ridership decline could have a negative impact on the Purple Line, which will connect with four Metro stations.
Several legal briefs from the plaintiffs—two Chevy Chase residents and the trail advocacy group Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail—and the defendants—the Federal Transit Administration and Maryland Transit Administration—have been filed over the past three months. Both sides are waiting to see whether Judge Richard Leon will reinstate the project’s federal approval to allow construction to move forward or call for a new environmental study for the project, which could delay it further.
During the presidential campaign, Trump pledged to spend as much as $1 trillion on infrastructure improvements in the U.S.
