The local business interests of Bethesda and Chevy Chase and other parties like the local politician Steve Silverman have been pushing for this new metro line for years, arguing it will bring new business and vitality to the area and relieve the already congested Capital Beltway (495).

The detractors of the idea including some local well-to-do residents and local politicians like Ike Leggett resist the plan arguing it will increase the commercial traffic trough some choice neighborhoods and create new urban problems rather than solve them.

It is the classic tug of war between the pro-development and pro-status-quo groups.

The Purple Line looks good on paper indeed, connecting the high-income Bethesda and Chevy Chase with the rapidly gentrifying Silver Spring, arching over to the University of Maryland College Park campus and terminating in the busy metro and train hub of New Carrollton from where you can even take the Amtrak to Philly and New York City.

I can imagine a college student renting an affordable efficiency in Silver Spring and then hopping on the Purple Line and catching that first class early in the morning at University of MD.

The Purple will also connect to the Green Line at College Park, with the Red Line in Bethesda, and Orange Line at Silver Spring. Thus through these connections you can travel as far down south as the Reagan Airport.

I think the Purple Line would be an exciting and much needed addition to the Capital region's already exhausted transportation network.

With thousands of new residents flocking to this economically exploding metropolitan area, what we need is more and not less public transportation alternatives.