Graphic from Maryland Transit Administration.
Construction on the Purple Line can continue uninterrupted following a court ruling today by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
The Washington Post reports that the panel overturned a 2016 order by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon requiring that the state needed to study the effects of Metro’s ridership decline on projections of the number of Purple Line users.
The court ruled that the new information was not significant enough to warrant further study.
The court earlier issued a stay on Leon’s decision, which allowed Purple Line construction to begin. That work now can continue uninterrupted.
Unless the opponents appeal today’s decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, this ends the three-year legal battle.