US DOT awards funding for Maryland Purple Line Project

The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has announced a US$900 million federal grant agreement for the Maryland Purple Line Light Rail Project. The light rail line will make travel across Montgomery and Prince George’s counties faster and more reliable, improving access to major business and activity centres in the state’s most populated counties. The 16.2-mile Maryland Purple Line will connect major activity centres in Bethesda, Silver Spring, Takoma-Langley Park, College
August 29, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

The 324 US Department of Transportation’s 2023 Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has announced a US$900 million federal grant agreement for the Maryland Purple Line Light Rail Project. The light rail line will make travel across Montgomery and Prince George’s counties faster and more reliable, improving access to major business and activity centres in the state’s most populated counties.

The 16.2-mile Maryland Purple Line will connect major activity centres in Bethesda, Silver Spring, Takoma-Langley Park, College Park, and New Carrollton to three Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority rail lines, all three Maryland Area Regional Commuter (MARC) rail lines and 2008 Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor line. Although the project will provide direct connections with Metrorail and MARC, it will remain physically and operationally separate. When completed, the line will make suburb-to-suburb cross-county travel easier and faster.

The project includes the construction of 21 stations, two vehicle and maintenance storage yards with shop facilities, and the procurement of 25 articulated light-rail vehicles.

In addition to the funding from FTA’s Capital Investment Grants Program, in June 2016 US DOT announced a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan of US$874.6 million to Purple Line Transit Partners for construction of the Maryland Purple Line.

Purple Line Transit Partners to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the 16.2-mile light rail system. MDOT will be the owner of the project and its selected private partner, Purple Line Transit Partners, will implement the project on a design-build-finance-operate-maintain basis.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • US public transportation records passenger numbers highest for 58 years
    March 10, 2015
    Americans took 10.8 billion trips on public transportation in 2014, which is the highest annual public transit ridership number in 58 years, according to a report by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). “In 2014, people took a record 10.8 billion trips on public transportation -- the highest annual ridership number in 58 years,” said Phillip Washington, APTA chair and CEO and general manager of the Regional Transportation District in Denver. “Some public transit systems experienced all-ti
    Read More
  • Preparing for unpredictable precipitation
    August 18, 2015
    ITS solutions are helping streamline winter road maintenance for Delaware and Illinois, two states that must deal with dynamic weather and varying snowfall totals. Andrew Bardin Williams reports. Wilmington and Newark (pronounced new-ark) are two vastly different cities that sit on opposite ends of Delaware. Newark is a sleepy university town of roughly 30,000 residents abutting the state’s western border with Maryland and Pennsylvania, and often gets confused with its larger namesake in New Jersey.
    Read More
  • Signal optimisation reduces congestion, improves travel times
    February 2, 2012
    The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County's Department of Public Works(MPW) identified seven corridors in the County that experience heavy traffic congestion and needed traffic signal timing improvements to improve traffic flow as well as air quality and fuel consumption. The seven corridors included a total of 223 signalised intersections. To conduct this study, termed the Traffic Signal Optimisation Study for the Metro Nashville Signal System, MPW received funding from the Federal Conge
    Read More
  • GHSA acts on 'dirty little secret' of US distracted driving
    November 6, 2023
    Partnership with GM sees grants awarded to authorities in DC and Washington state
    Read More

Highlighted Content