Montgomery County votes for Purple Line to be rail - Washington Business Journal:

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The 16-mile route, built as is expected to costabout $1.2 billion. Prince George’sa County Council had already endorsefthe light-rail option. Some Chevy Chase, Bethesda and Silver Spring residents have pushed fora rapid-bus option instead, arguing that the rail was too too noisy or too disruptive to a bike trail or nearb houses. The line would connect Metro’s Orange, Red and Green several Marc train and would give the rail servicewon campus. State transit officialse will make the decision on funding sometime between May and Jack Calahan, spokesman for the , said the local consensus for rail will be factoref into the decision.
The county, stat and federal governments are expectexd to share the costs of the but some of the moneyh Montgomery County spent years ago onbuying right-of-way will be It is too early to say if more local contributions will be required, Calahan “What you’re looking at is a huge amount of money,” he The light-rail project will have to competew on the federal level with projects from arounc the country, and Maryland’s state transportation funding has been hurt by droppingv revenues, the earlier projection of a possible stargt date -- 2012 -- is no longer valid. “Thayt was before the economy went south,” Calahan said.
“It’s probablu overly optimistic.” No new date has been he said. Ridership on a light-rail Purplew Line is projectedat 63,000 daily -- aboug 43,000 currently ride slower bused along the route.