Ongoing Purple Line construction leaves businesses struggling in DC

Purple line construction still impacting businesses in DC

Businesses along the purple line corridor continue to struggle after years of ongoing construction. The Purple Line Light Rail project is set to connect Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties and tonight there may be some relief.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - Businesses along the Purple Line corridor are continuing to struggle after years of ongoing construction. The Purple Line Light Rail project is set to connect Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties.

The backstory:

Construction started on the Purple Line project in 2017 — so we're talking about seven to eight years of impact.

FOX 5 has heard some truly heartbreaking stories of families trying to keep their businesses alive and after speaking to a number of these business owners from here in Bethesda to Silver Spring, it's remarkable that they’re still open.

Crews have shut down this entire area for the Purple Line construction project. Hardly any pedestrians passing, one-way traffic. Certainly no parking and sadly, there are a lot of empty storefronts due to businesses simply not lasting.

What they're saying:

The owners of Roger Miller African Cuisine restaurant say pick-up orders are even impacted because Uber and Door Dash drivers can't get to them.

"We used to have a lot of people come here but now that the work has started, there’s no parking and people don’t even know how to get to us," said Sophie Hounkpati with Roger Miller African Cuisine.

"It’s been tough, hanging on and trying to keep the doors open hoping we can be here to actually reap the benefits of the purple line when it’s finished," said Michael Bailey, owner of nearby Ebony Barbers Shop.

The 16.2-mile light rail project is set to have 21 stations, connecting Montgomery and Prince George's counties and linking key areas including Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park and New Carrollton.

Dig deeper:

To ease some of the impact, the county does provide some level of support and now, the Maryland Department of Transportation is rolling out another set of grants to qualifying businesses.

If you did not get awarded in round one, you can still apply. Your shop must be located within one-quarter mile of the rail corridor, have 50 or fewer employees and be operational since January 2022.

"We definitely saw a lot of businesses close. So, any bit of assistance that we could get would be beneficial," said Jack McManus, who runs the Barking Dog. "There’s no parking available on the street anymore and the lot down the road fill is and they heavily ticketed out here, so, yeah, we’re just looking for it to be over. It’s been a long process, definitely impacting the business. So we’re just looking for the construction to finalize get the Purple Line open and we can put all this behind us."

The grants range from $1,000 to $40,000. Barking Dog just got awarded a grant but it’s unclear how much. The next round of applications is opening up going until June 27.

The Purple Line project is 76% complete with full completion expected in winter 2027.

The Brief