Nearly halfway through construction, Maryland’s $2 billion Purple Line project has teetered on the verge of collapse since May.
Unless an agreement on who will pay $755 million in cost overruns is reached with the state by Aug. 22, both the construction contractor and the consortium of companies managing the 16-mile light-rail project have said they will quit.
The walk-offs threatened this spring might seem sudden, but problems on Maryland’s largest transportation project have been brewing since before the contract was signed in 2016.
Maryland officials signed the 36-year partnership with the companies even as an environmental lawsuit filed by opponents loomed. A judge’s ruling in the case ended up pushing back construction by almost a year, putting it behind schedule before the first bulldozers revved up.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Katherine Shaver over at The Washington Post
