Steve Burns
WMAL.com

WASHINGTON – (WMAL) A major legal hurdle is now in the rear-view for advocates of Maryland’s Purple Line. A federal appeals court in Washington released its ruling Tuesday siding with the state and federal government in its case that Purple Line planners did adequately study the impacts Metro’s ridership would have on the line.

Purple Line opponents, some coming from the Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail organization, alleged the federal government did not study how a drop in Metro ridership would impact the ridership and overall need for the Purple Line. They initially were heartened by a ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon, who ordered a new environmental impact study be done for the project. That ruling was reversed Tuesday.

“They found that the federal agencies were quite reasonable in determining that no possible impact, including zero ridership, would change the fundamental need for, and desirability of, the Purple Line,” Montgomery County Councilmember Roger Berliner told WMAL. “I think this was the last significant legal hurdle that was before the courts. I think anything that comes after this is going to be even more of a stretch.”

The 16.2-mile Purple Line is not affiliated with Metro, though there are four stations at which Purple Line riders can transfer to it: Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park, and New Carrollton. It is being built and will be operated through a $5.6 billion, 36-year public-private partnership between Maryland and Purple Line Transit Partners.

Ajay Bhatt, President of Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail, said he was disappointed to learn of the ruling.

“It’s a loss of the opportunity to think ahead, to think about the future and of generations to come,” he told WMAL. “99.5 percent of Maryland will not ride the Purple Line, yet 100 percent of Maryland is going to pay for this for the next 35 years.”

Attorneys have informed Bhatt the case would likely not be heard if it is appealed to the Supreme Court. He said a separate legal challenge is still in the works in lower courts.

Construction had already begun, as the Appeals Court had earlier indicated it was likely to rule against the line’s opponents when it reinstated the federal government’s approval for the project in August. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan kicked off construction soon after at a press event by climbing into an excavator and knocking down a warehouse in New Carrollton.

It is scheduled to open in 2022.

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