Neighborhood Work Group Planned for Bethesda Purple Line Station

The Maryland Transit Administration is planning a Tuesday neighborhood work group focused on the planned Purple Line's Bethesda station.

MTA officials will present current plans for the station and ask residents for their feedback.

“The Purple Line team will present this information, but our hope is to have an informal setting that will allow for an open dialogue about the Bethesda station and the surrounding area,” wrote MTA in an announcement.

Bethesda's Purple Line station is planned to be constructed in conjunction with a new south entrance to Bethesda's Red Line Metro station, MTA officials have said. The new entrance would add a total of six high-speed elevators between the street level at Wisconsin Avenue and Elm Street, the Red Line Metro station, and the planned Bethesda station on the Purple Line.

At the work group, MTA will present current plans including the connection from the Capital Crescent Trail to the station.

Following much debate, County Council members recommended the trail route across Wisconsin Avenue, rather than alongside the light rail in the tunnel beneath the thoroughfare, through which the trail currently runs.

The 16-mile light rail line will connect Bethesda to New Carrollton and is expected to open in 2020. But along with some other transportation projects in Maryland, the Purple Line is facing funding challenges.

Earmarking capital improvement funds for the new Bethesda Metro station entrance and the Capital Crescent Trail without secured funding for the Purple Line has placed the council at odds with County Executive Isiah Leggett (D).

The work group meeting is planned for 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in the cafeteria of Bethesda Elementary School.

For more information, call 443-451-3706 or email outreach@purplelinemd.com.