Prince George’s County and the Maryland Transit Administration have reached an agreement to build a Purple Line station planned for Riverdale Park on a bridge structure, with open space below it.
The deal brings the station back to its original, open bridge structure, which the state scrapped in 2015 in a cost-saving effort. Officials said Thursday that it will cost an additional $8.7 million to build the Riverdale Park station, money that will be paid for with contributions from the state and the county.
The new design is good news for residents and elected officials who had wholeheartedly opposed the state’s intention to put their station atop a 26-foot-tall concrete wall, which critics had dubbed the “Trump Wall.”
State and county officials spent the last year negotiating how to get back to the original design, chiefly debating who would pay for the additional cost. Bradley Frome, a top economic development aide to Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D), said they agreed the state will contribute $1.5 million and the county $7.2 million. As part of the deal, the county will make two payments of $3.6 million, one in 2020 and the other in 2021.
“At the end of the day getting this design right was important to us,” Frome said.
Click here to read the rest of the story written by over Luz Lazo at the Washington Post