The light-rail Purple Line is designed to help commuters leave behind sluggish, unreliable buses and, for the first time, take a train directly between Maryland suburbs without having to ride Metro through the heart of Washington.
If all goes according to plan, passengers will step aboard in about five years.
But not much on the Purple Line project has gone according to plan — a court fight delayed construction by a year, and the project remains the focus of a federal lawsuit — and even supporters say motorists and residents along the 16-mile alignment should brace for some ugly construction.
Since the Aug. 28 groundbreaking, the project has moved at breakneck speed — and caught flak for it. Maryland transportation officials say they have to make up time lost to the legal delays. Meanwhile, local officials say they were blindsided last week when the state’s contractor abruptly closed the popular Georgetown Branch Trail in Montgomery County for four to five years of construction after less than a week’s notice.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Katherine Shaver over at Washington Post