Seventeen years ago in 1989, the Montgomery County Council voted to endorse light rail between Bethesda and Silver Spring. Almost two decades later, this concept has expanded into the Purple Line light rail from Bethesda to New Carrollton, but nothing has been built and east-west commuters still sit in traffic. Since the early 1990s, no county money has been spent to help build the transit link we badly need.

Now we have a chance to take action at last. On May 9, the County Council will vote on whether to fund final design and construction of the south entrance to the Bethesda Metro, which will serve as the connection between the Red Line and the future Purple Line from Bethesda to New Carrollton. By moving to build this entrance now, we will put shovels in the ground as the first step toward building the Purple Line.

County Executive Duncan has proposed spending $80 million of county money to accelerate state-funded road projects located north of the Beltway. The Duncan plan is extremely unbalanced. The entire $80 million would go to roads, with not a penny for transit, and none of the money would be spent inside the Beltway. Adding the Bethesda south entrance would improve the balance between roads and transit and between upcounty and downcounty.