First Purple Line Track Installed: Gov. Hogan

ANNAPOLIS, MD — In a significant moment for Montgomery and Prince George's counties, Gov. Larry Hogan announced the installation of the first section of the Purple Line transit track on Thursday.

The $5.6 billion project -- the largest public-private partnership transit project in North America, his office claims -- will span 16 miles from New Carrollton to Bethesda, running east to west inside the Capitol Beltway with 21 stations connecting to the rest of the Metro system through the line.

Hogan broke ground for the project about two years ago at the Glenridge site. More wrangling over the project ensued, but it appears the Purple Line is gradually progressing.

“In Maryland we are proud to be setting an example for the rest of the nation and the Purple Line is at the heart of our state’s infrastructure success story,” Hogan said in a statement. “Two years ago when we broke ground on the Purple Line, I climbed into an excavator and personally helped get the construction underway. Since then, we’ve been grading, moving utilities, tunneling, and now we have begun building and laying the first segments of track.”

WTOP reports that the project is expected to cost $5.6 billion, and that Hogan's office estimates it would employ 6,300 workers and take 17,000 cars off the roads each day.

It's unclear when service on the Purple Line will open, with projections anywhere between late 2022 and 2024. The project has been plagued with resistance from locals and concerns about costs. There were even legal challenges to the line, although the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. District rejected a suit that would have stopped the line in December 2017.

Some of the concerns about the line include impacts on a local golf course, impact on the Capital Crescent Trail, and commercial development booms in neighborhoods that don't want it.