A coalition of Maryland organizations joined with officials, legislators and community members to rally in support of the Red and Purple lines in Annapolis March 9. (Courtesy Photos)
With the 2015 session of the Maryland General Assembly in full swing, supporters of myriad causes have been making the pilgrimage to Annapolis. On March 9, it was the supporters of the Purple and Red subway lines, both of which are on the verge of beginning construction.
Over 150 community members, business leaders and elected officials, including Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, gathered to signal legislators and the governor’s mansion that neither delay nor cancellation of the projects is acceptable. The warning came in light of alleged delays by Gov. Hogan’s administration, which they say is jeopardizing nearly $2 billion in federal funding.
“If we scrap these projects and dream up new ones each time there is an election, Maryland will not build the infrastructure it needs to provide a high quality of life and a competitive economy,” said Grant Corley of Red Line Now, according to a statement. “The Red Line and Purple Line projects have been in development for decades, and now Governor Hogan’s administration has the opportunity to put people to work and inject the investment into the economy in year one.”
A coalition of Maryland organizations joined with officials, legislators and community members to rally in support of the Red and Purple lines in Annapolis March 9. (Courtesy Photos)
The transit lines are expected to stimulate significant economic activity and investment. “The Purple Line will create over 27,000 permanent jobs, generate billions of dollars in new economic activity, and provide a vital east-west transit connection between the University of Maryland and job centers like Silver Spring and Bethesda in Maryland’s inner suburbs,” said Ralph Bennett, of Purple Line Now.
“We probably have somewhere in the neighborhood of 85,000 to 100,000 jobs in the pipeline in Montgomery County,” Leggett added, “and what is tied to all of that is transportation, and most specifically transit. There is no Plan B for the Purple Line; any backup is a mild substitute, and we all will suffer.”
Baltimore business leaders also stressed the Red Line’s economic impact. “The Red Line will not only transform the city’s rail transit into a connected, comprehensive system, it will be an important factor in attracting people and investment to Baltimore,” said Donald C. Fry, president and CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee.
Residents are also eager for the projects to be finally underway given their potential to cut back on longer and frustrating, traffic-choked commutes. According to the National Household Transportation Survey, 30 percent of Maryland residents aged 16 and older take transit at least once per month, the fourth-highest of any state.