Montgomery County Council and Committee Meetings on Feb. 10, 2025
MARYLAND, July 2 - For Immediate Release: Friday, February 7, 2025
Council will continue review of local and bi-county bills; Committees will review an appropriation for the extension of Flash Bus Rapid Transit into Howard County and receive updates on Purple Line construction and its impact on local businesses
The Council will meet on Monday, Feb. 10 at 12:30 p.m. to continue to review bi-county and local bills with Director Melanie Wenger and representatives from the Office of Intergovernmental Relations.
The Transportation and Environment (TE) Committee will meet at 2 p.m. to review a $4.8 million supplementation appropriation for the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) to expand the U.S. Route 29 Flash Bus Rapid Transit service into Howard County. In addition, the committee will receive an update on Purple Line construction.
The members of the TE Committee include Chair Evan Glass, Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe and Council President Kate Stewart.
The joint TE and Economic Development (ECON) Committee will meet at 3 p.m. to receive a briefing about efforts to mitigate the impacts of Purple Line construction on small businesses along the planned transit route.
The members of the ECON Committee include Chair Natali Fani-González and Councilmembers Balcombe, Glass and Laurie-Anne Sayles.
All meetings will take place in the seventh-floor hearing room. More detail on each agenda item is provided below.
Review: The TE Committee will review a $4.8 million supplementation appropriation for MCDOT to expand the U.S. Route 29 Flash Bus Rapid Transit service into Howard County. Flash bus service currently terminates in Burtonsville. The extension would add four new Flash stations serving Columbia, Merriweather Drive, Maple Lawn and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Howard County would construct the new stations and on-road infrastructure and pay for MCDOT’s additional operating costs for running the extended service. The capital and operating costs related to this project are funded by federal aid and intergovernmental transfers from Howard County.
Update: The TE Committee will receive an update on the construction of the Purple Line from Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), Purple Line Transit Partners (PLTP), Purple Line Transit Operators (PLTO) and Maryland Transit Solutions (MTS) representatives. The Purple Line is expected to open by late 2027. The Capital Crescent Trail between Bethesda and Silver Spring is expected to open in mid-2026.
The committee previously received a June 2024 update on Purple Line construction. Since the previous update, tracks have been placed at the Dale Drive and Wayne Avenue intersection and the Piney Branch Road and University Boulevard intersection. The Talbot Avenue bridge has reopened and the first seven light rail vehicles arrived at the Glenridge Operations and Maintenance Facility. Construction has begun at the secondary Lyttonsville Operations and Maintenance Facility and the new Wayne Avenue bridge over Sligo Creek has begun construction. Additional details can be found on the Purple Line website.
Purple Line Update and Business Impacts
Briefing: The joint TE and ECON Committee will receive a briefing on efforts to mitigate the impacts of Purple Line construction on small businesses along the planned transit route. In 2023, the state provided an initial $235,000 in grants to local businesses and subsequently provided an additional $815,000 in grant funding. These initial two rounds of grants assisted 151 businesses. In March 2024, the MTA and PLTP announced an additional $4 million in funds for impacted businesses. These grants have yet to be dispersed and will be administered by MTA. In May 2024, the Council approved $900,000 in one-time County funding to the Montgomery County Business Center through the Economic Development Fund. These funds provided support for 40 impacted businesses in Silver Spring.
The Committee meeting schedule may change from time to time. View the current Council and Committee agendas, Council staff reports and additional information on items scheduled for Council review on the Council website.
Council and committee meetings are streamed live on the Council’s web page via YouTube and on Facebook Live and can be watched on County Cable Montgomery on Xfinity/RCN 6 HD 996/1056, Fios 30, and on the CCM live stream.
Release ID: 25-039
Media Contact: Sonya Healy 240-777-7926, Benjamin Sky Brandt 240-777-7884
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