Although Bethesda and Silver Spring are separated by fewer than five miles, it takes over 45 minutes by Metro to travel between the two destinations. Maryland Transit Administration officials hope that the proposed Purple Line light rail line will help connect Maryland suburbs in the DC area that are underserved by mass transportation.

MTA’s plan suggests a line going from Bethesda across Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties to the New Carrollton Metro stop, traveling through Silver Spring and College Park. It will have 21 stations along its 16-mile route, and construction will begin next year. Current plans suggest that it will be completed by 2020, but a risk still exists that opponents could successfully block or delay this goal.

The Purple Line was originally planned over a decade ago, and support slowly built up steam, with most Maryland politicians now in favor of it. At the national level, the Federal Transit Authority recently approved $100 million of construction money for the Purple Line, and President Obama included it in his 2015 budget, although Congress still needs to approve this grant. The Purple Line should be constructed over opponents’ objections to ensure that further development comes to the region.

The Purple Line will open up job opportunities for people who are otherwise limited by lack of transportation. It will provide access from areas like Prince George’s County to more developed areas like Bethesda, which has more than 80,000 jobs, and Silver Spring, said Dan Reed, a contributor to the DC area transit blog Greater Greater Washington. This transition could provide substantial benefits for the region.

There is no mass transit connection across the entire length of the Purple Line. In order to get to many destinations, residents without cars must take the Metro into DC, switch lines, and ride back out. The Purple Line would encourage residents to take mass transit to solve this problem.

However, Chevy Chase’s town leadership has maintained that the train line would be detrimental to the community, and hired a lobbying firm last month at the cost of $350,000 to contest the construction of the line, the Washington Post reported.

Along the line’s future track, a part of the Capital Crescent Trail winds through Chevy Chase. Building the line would hurt the trail, causing noise pollution and disturbing the natural environment as trains run hundreds of times per day along a currently peaceful path. Chevy Chase residents like with the trail as it is, and don’t want to see change, but these changes would not be totally negative, Reed said. The trail would be paved and extended all the way to Silver Spring when the line is built.

Opponents also cite concerns related to development, which may threaten endangered species living in the region’s parks. Environmental lawyer John Fitzgerald, who is preparing a notice of intent to sue, said that any further development, especially in the Chevy Chase Lake area, would increase pollution and runoff, threatening three endangered species of crustacean known as amphipods. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has determined that there is no threat to these rare creatures. Opponents miss the numerous benefits of the Purple Line by focusing on an unpaved trail and inconsequential environmental harms.

The Purple Line provides far more important environmental benefits than the possible damages that adversaries cite. By 2030, the MTA projects that the line will have 60,000 daily riders, and they estimate that it will take 20,000 cars off the road. The MTA has made a significant effort to accommodate Chevy Chase’s wishes, MTA spokesman Paul Shepard said. Shepard also said that the MTA doesn’t think Chevy Chase’s objections are legitimate.

Chevy Chase has little power to stop the project, Reed says, and almost every politician, both on a local level and statewide, is in favor of the rail line. But a successful lawsuit by Chevy Chase could still delay construction, a dangerous prospect for the area. Construction should begin as scheduled next year over any minor objections opponents still hold.