Reports: Silver Spring Purple Line Station May Be 80 Feet Up

Plans for a 16-mile light rail transit system running from Bethesda to New Carrollton with stops in Silver Spring are up in the air—way up in the air. The Washington Examiner reports that state transit officials proposed building the Silver Spring Transit Center station 80 feet above the MARC train tracks. 

The station would be enclosed in a sort of tube to counteract wind exposure, Mike Madden, manager of planning for the Purple Line with the Maryland Transit Administration, said when he unveiled the plans at a community meeting. Engineers with the state agency are exploring other options. 

Five Silver Spring stations are planned for the system: Silver Spring Transit Center, Silver Spring Library, Manchester Place, Long Branch and Piney Branch, according to the Maryland Transit Administration's website. 

Montgomery County Councilmember George Leventhal (D-At Large) encouraged state lawmakers to fund the project at the meeting:

"We need the Legislature to act in this session to replenish the transportation trust fund otherwise this whole conversation is meaningless," he said. 

Read more at the Washington Examiner.