Big changes are already happening around the New Carrollton Metro station in Maryland.
There’s a big Kaiser Permanente facility, not to mention lots and lots of new housing going up where vast concrete parking lots used to overflow with cars parked by commuters. Eventually, the Purple Line will originate from there, as well.
Now the train station itself will get a major upgrade — a brand-new train hall where riders will go to connect with trains on Metrorail, MARC, Amtrak and, eventually, the Purple Line.
The county is getting $20.5 million from the FY22 Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Grant award from the United States Department of Transportation.
“This is a major transportation hub,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who helped secure the funding for the new train hall. “This will be a new train hall … When you have all of these different transit options coming together … you obviously need a place where people can embark and disembark conveniently.”
“This is going to be a state-of-the-art facility and this is going to be a great cornerstone of our transit system here in the state of Maryland,” he added.
In a statement, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks said it highlights continuing progress for the area, which in the past she’s called “the gateway to the northeast corridor.”
She added that the project will “transform the largest employment cluster in the county into a true ‘downtown’ area, and help ensure that New Carrollton becomes the premier transit hub on the Eastern Seaboard.”
Metro’s new general manager, Randy Clarke, was also quoted celebrating the announcement, saying the “project will deliver a much-needed transformation to help customers take advantage of its multimodal connectivity.”
