Wednesday, February 27, 2013
County planners still are determining the details of just how the Purple Line would cut across the region, but the biggest issue of all is funding.
County planning staff are slated to update the planning board about the Purple Line, Capital Crescent Trail and Silver Spring Green Trail projects at the board's meeting at 2 p.m. on Thursday. A variety of issues still remain in the Purple Line planning process: planning the rail's connections to the Red Line's east and west branches, its connections to the MARC train and the Capital Crescent Trail, its crossing over Connecticut Avenue, the landscaping along the rail—but one of the biggest issues is how it will be funded, according to a memo from county planning staff to county planning board members. The preliminary engineering phase of the Purple Line is expected to be completed this summer, after which the Federal Transit Administration…
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Montgomery County officials are blasting a state transportation funding plan that calls for re-allocating money earmarked for the two projects if lawmakers can't drum up more funds.
Members of the Montgomery County Council are urging state transportation officials against delaying funding for the Purple Line and the Corridor Cities Transitway. Lawmakers in Annapolis are struggling with ways to fund state transportation projects, including the 16-mile Purple Line light rail that would connect Bethesda with New Carrollton and the upcounty bus rapid transit route. Maryland Senate president Thomas V. Mike Miller has proposed a 3 percent gas tax that would raise about $300 million for transportation projects, Patch reported. But without a funding increase, a state transportation funding plan calls for re-allocating the money earmarked for the two projects and Baltimore’s Red Line within the Maryland Transit Administration’…
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Catch up on headlines this week from across Montgomery County.
A 130-year-old local grocery chain is closing up shop; a North Potomac resident nicknamed "The Turbanator" advances to the next round of American Idol; and Montgomery County councilmembers pledge to increase police presence in schools. These are just a few of the stories Patch reported this week. Get caught up on top headlines here. Magruder's Closing All Locations GAITHERSBURG—Magruder's is closing all four of its supermarkets, including Montgomery County's Gaithersburg and Rockville locations, but they may re-open under new ownership in the future. Read more on Gaithersburg Patch. Man Guilty of Running Prostitution Ring from Rockville Pike Hotel ROCKVILLE—He’s been dubbed “The Pimp on the Pike.” Now, Nahshon Kornegay, 31, of District …
Notable outcomes include passing a resolution on tighter gun restrictions, delaying funding for county transportation projects, and a denied school board request for additional funding.
The Montgomery County Council met Tuesday for its first session of 2013. Notable outcomes from the meeting include: Council Introduces Resolution To Promote Tighter Gun Restrictions The Montgomery County Council introduced a resolution Tuesday urging Gov. Martin O'Malley and state lawmakers to tighten restrictions on gun and ammunition sales. The resolution, Germantown Patch reported, asks state leaders to: "The proposals, introduced by Council President Nancy Navarro (D-East County), mirror many of the laws that Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and others in the state legislature will attempt to pass during the General Assembly" since the county lacks authority to regulate the sale or possession of firearms under state law, BethesdaNow.com …
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Catch up on the top news in Montgomery County this week.
Report: Study Shows ICC Speed Limit Can Safely Increase To 60 MPH GAITHERSBURG—An engineering study of the ICC has concluded that the speed of the highway can safely be raised to 60 mph, pending an analysis of crash data. Read more on Gaithersburg Patch. Montgomery Village Man Killed In Gaithersburg Crash GAITHERSBURG—A 21-year-old Montgomery Village man was killed early Sunday in the collision of his Honda Civic and another car on Snouffer School Road in Gaithersburg. Read more at Gaithersburg Patch. New Renderings Unveiled For Bethesda Purple Line Station BETHESDA -- Maryland Transit Administration officials unveiled new renderings Tuesday for the Bethesda station on the planned Purple Line. Funding for the 16-mile light rail line …
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Is Leggett throwing up a red signal on the Purple Line?
The great thing about setting priorities is that it tells people what you believe is most important, meaning more important than all other things. At least that is what the word "priorities" means in all other realms outside of politics. When it comes to our own local leaders, however, the word "priority" apparently means something entirely different. Politicians love to call everything a "priority," which really means nothing is. They obviously do this to keep everyone happy, but the danger in this muddling of the term "priority" is that we lose focus on where scarce taxpayer dollars really should be invested to do the most good. One need look no further than Montgomery County's apparently shifting priorities on transit to illustrate the…
Sunday, October 9, 2011
The $1.9 billion project receives funding for preliminary engineering.
This week the long-debated Purple Line, a light-rail transit line connecting Bethesda to New Carrollton, took another important step forward. The $1.9 billion project is now approved for preliminary engineering, a key step in the federal funding process. This is good news on several fronts. First, it shows continued forward progress as the Purple Line continues creeping forward towards its expected 2020 construction date. Second, it will bring several aspects of the project into much clearer focus, including the preliminary design, alignment and cost estimates. All of these are still approximations at this stage, and the preliminary engineering work will give us a much clearer look at how the Purple Line will actually be built. While …
Jersey GIrl
5:12 pm on Monday, February 11, 2013
If Maryland can NOT balance it budget it should NOT spend money that it does NOT have! Once you take away green space it is gone FOREVER! The Capital Crescent Trail is packed with bikes, mothers and children, dog walkers, the elderly.....It is almost too crowded on a nice day! You can NOT relocate a wooded trail!!! If they build the purple line they will cut down trees on either side of the rail … more ›