As Purple Line construction has battered small businesses in its path, state agencies and private funders have tried to keep those businesses from closing.

The most direct form of support for struggling businesses along the Purple Line has come through grants intended for businesses losing the most customers and revenue while roads, sidewalks, parking and even front-door entrances are blocked off or obstructed.

The latest grant program, launched by the Maryland Department of Transportation in early 2025, has promised up to $50,000 — a potential windfall for businesses struggling to stay afloat. But nearly all awards have been a fraction of that amount.

The grants are meant for businesses that are currently or recently facing disruptions, though many owners say construction has been hurting their revenue for much of the last decade.

“When you’re losing money every single day, it’s sort of like trying to plug a flood,” said Silvia Huezo, who owns Pupuseria El Comalito, which has two locations along the Purple Line track.

Award decisions over the last year have perplexed and frustrated some business owners and advocates, who have questioned the state Department of Transportation’s process for determining who receives help, and how much.

Notably, several businesses on Silver Spring’s Bonifant Street — considered the hardest-hit stretch along the 16-mile line — received some of the lowest grant amounts in the first and second rounds of funding last year.

Bonifant Street business owners have said they couldn’t understand why they received a few thousand dollars while a handful of businesses in Bethesda and parts of Prince George’s County received $40,000 awards.

The department has adjusted its processes to address frustrations. In the third and final round of funding in 2025, Bonifant Street businesses received the largest awards.

But business owners along the line — which stretches from Bethesda to New Carrollton in Prince George’s County — say they expected more help. Some have applied several times but received no money.

As construction winds down in anticipation of the Purple Line opening in late 2027, transportation department leaders know more businesses could use cash infusions.

“With the funding that we have available, there are some really tough decisions that have to be made,” said Assistant Secretary Jaclyn Hartman, who oversees the grant program. “Hopefully, it is enough to show the businesses that we do value them.”

More help on the way?

Hartman said the state and the project’s private funders have discussed increasing funding for small-business grants.

But Doran Bosso, CEO of Purple Line Transit Partners, a consortium of companies leading the project as part of a public-private partnership, was noncommittal.

“We’ve worked closely with our state partners in striving to soften construction impacts on nearby communities and businesses,” he said in a statement.

Bosso also said that, of the $4 million his consortium provided to the state two years ago for small businesses, the Department of Transportation has used only half.

An omnipresent problem

Once completed, the Purple Line will serve as a connector between the four Metro lines that wind from D.C. into Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.

When construction crews broke ground in 2017, officials estimated that the Purple Line would open by 2022.

Following a dizzying maze of court cases, delays and pandemic-era complications, the project is five years behind schedule and $4 billion more expensive.

The extended timeline has prolonged the period during which scores of businesses have had to contend with road closures, sidewalk barriers, jackhammers, dust and debris — all of which they say has made it more difficult for customers to reach them.

“Until you’re here on the ground and really seeing it, it’s hard to comprehend the impact this construction has had,” said County Council member Kate Stewart, who represents several areas along the Purple Line.

For Damon Callis, CEO of The Urban Winery of Silver Spring, the disruptions have seemed inescapable.

He and his wife relocated from Bonifant Street in 2020 after determining their business likely wouldn’t survive the construction disruptions there.

They settled on Stewart Avenue, roughly three miles away, and also near the Purple Line.

But at the time, Callis said, the project was still expected to be done by 2022. He figured that work on the new Urban Winery would coincide with the Purple Line, and the two would open around the same time.

Instead, Callis said, construction has continued to interfere with his business. He’s lost out on car shows, wedding receptions, birthday parties and other large events that generate thousands of dollars in revenue.

After one evening of live music at The Urban Winery, about a half dozen patrons found their cars had flat tires when they tried to leave.

The culprit? A road closure sign that people unknowingly drove over on their way into the venue, Callis said.

The Urban Winery received a $5,000 grant in early 2025, but Callis said the award did little to offset his losses.

“I could have lost $5,000 on two Wednesday nights, which are usually my slow nights,” he said.

He has applied for more assistance but hasn’t received any.

“The trick is surviving through it,” he said of the construction. “I’ve been surviving since my days over on Bonifant Street.”

Starting behind

Sheila Somashekhar, director of a University of Maryland-led coalition that champions economic and community development along the Purple Line, said the planning process for a major transit project like the Purple Line can often lead to oversights.

In an ideal world, she said, planners would anticipate major disruptions to businesses and set aside resources early on to prop them up.

“The way that these projects roll out, just generally, tend to be in silos,” she said.

Businesses didn’t begin receiving grants until years after construction started.

State lawmakers representing Montgomery and Prince George’s counties pushed repeatedly for a program to keep businesses afloat. A political fight with then-Republican Gov. Larry Hogan ensued, and they didn’t secure funding until 2021, when Democrats in the legislature overrode Hogan’s veto.

The state funneled $2 million to the two counties to distribute. Local officials in the two jurisdictions set up their own programs, too.

To continue the grants after state funding dried up in 2024, Purple Line Transit Partners — led by the investment benefit corporation Meridiam and Star America Capital Advisors — agreed to allocate $4 million to help businesses through the end of construction.

The state Department of Transportation distributed $2 million in 2025 and plans to award $1 million in both 2026 and 2027.

Hartman said her team has tried to improve the program with each round. The most substantive changes came in the latest round.

The department previously determined award amounts based on a business’s size, including its annual revenue over the previous three years. But business owners said construction had been hurting their sales for at least twice that long. By that metric, the more revenue a business lost, the less help it received — perhaps explaining the difference in awards to those on Bonifant Street and others in Bethesda, a more affluent area.

But Hartman said her team has tried to be more cognizant of physical disruptions.

“For Bonifant Street, we really made sure that, regardless of business size, that all businesses were receiving a grant amount of at least $25,000” across the three rounds, she said.

Riley Wirachai, who owns and operates Kook Kai’s Thai Noodles on Bonifant, said he put the $25,000 toward his sales taxes, which his business income no longer covers.

“My restaurant is still operating at a loss, but I continue to stay open in the hope that the road construction will be done and the road will open soon,” he wrote in an email.

Hartman and her team have also been determining award amounts with less information than what other grant programs may require, resulting in less precise amounts.

To keep the application quick and simple, the state hasn’t required certain documents, financial statements or other materials that grant programs may require.

Hartman also said it’s a misconception that the program is meant for businesses that have experienced disruptions from Purple Line construction at any point over the last decade.

She said the grants are meant to help offset revenue losses during recent or ongoing construction.

Still, Hartman said, “this is a highly competitive program, so we know [of] a lot of eligible businesses that have been impacted by Purple Line construction but are not necessarily receiving grants.”

Ways to improve

Among those hurting but not receiving a grant is Hilda Rosales’ Silver Start Driving School in Takoma Park.

Rosales says new drivers are wary of learning on roads thick with construction barriers and congestion, and she’s seen her customer traffic decline.

And while her revenue has dropped, costs have risen.

Rosales says she has to repair tires nearly every two weeks because of nails and debris in the road. She used to repair them only a handful of times each year.

To make ends meet, Rosales applied for a grant in early 2025. But she was unsuccessful. She applied again in rounds two and three, but still didn’t get an award.

Frustrated but undeterred, Rosales plans to apply again in 2026. She’d like to see the state prioritize eligible businesses that’ve applied in previous rounds but received no funding.

“I will keep trying,” she said. “But it’s a little difficult to use the time to apply, and I hope now, for the next one that’s coming, they can help me.”

Chris Gillis, who works closely with businesses in multiple areas along the Purple Line in his role with the Montgomery Housing Partnership, said he’d like to see the state move with more urgency.

He recommended that officials disburse the remaining $2 million in funding sooner than 2027.

“A lot of the construction is gonna wrap up this year,” he said. “Let’s get this money to the businesses now, as opposed to a year from now, when all the construction crews [will] have disappeared.”

At Pupuseria El Comalito, customers have told Huezo they’re avoiding her Takoma Park shop altogether, opting instead to trek to one of her other locations to enjoy the Salvadoran cuisine.

Sales have plummeted, Huezo said.

She said other struggling businesses in the Takoma Langley Crossroads area — home to owners who are older and may have trouble navigating the online application, and others who aren’t fluent in English and may encounter a language barrier — have been unaware of the grant program or unable to find time to apply.

As a board member of her area’s development authority, Huezo was well aware of the program and knew how to navigate the application.

After initially receiving no funding, she got $10,000 in the third round and said she received the money just a few weeks ago.

It may cover one month’s gas and electricity.

“I can’t tell you right now whether or not that will make a huge difference,” she said. “But it does sustain us for a while.”