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Community Corner

Metro Updates: Adding Silver and Purple to the Red, Orange, Green Mix

Silver Line appears on new map, but when might the Purple Line appear?

The Maryland Transit Authority has scheduled a series of five open houses to update citizens on the status of the much-discussed Purple Line, according to a Washington Post story.

The Purple Line is a proposed light rail extension of the current Metro system and would run for 16 miles between Bethesda and New Carrollton, and connect with the existing Red, Orange and Green Lines.

Among issues that have been discussed is how the line’s construction would be funded. A February Post article stated that for Maryland to receive federal funding, the state must demonstrate that it can pay its half ($2.15 billion) of the costs.

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The gas tax and public-private partnerships have been talked about as possible sources of funding, but no decisions have been made.

Learn more about the current state of the Purple Line at one of the remaining meetings:

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  • Saturday, May 11, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Langley Park Community Center, 1500 Merrimac Drive in Hyattsville.
  • Tuesday, May 14 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at BCC High School, 4301 East-West Highway in Bethesda.
  • Wednesday, May 15 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Woodridge Elementary School, 5001 Flintridge Drive in Hyattsville.

The Silver Line meanwhile, is slated to open later this year, according to The Post. It mirrors most of the existing Orange Line, but extends to Wiehle-Reston to the west and Largo Town Center to the east.

The addition of another line brings about the need for another redesign of the Metro rail map. Recently, Metro released a series of redesigned maps, and asked for feedback. Metro took comments into account and now is asking citizens to take a survey to help them gauge which map design people prefer.

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