A top official directing the construction of Maryland’s Purple Line last year addressed the vagaries of this large-scale transit project: “A good number of the surprises have been uncovered and resolved, but there will be things,” said Terry Gohde, project manager for the joint venture building the Purple Line, told The Post.
“Things,” indeed, have arisen. Again.
As The Post’s Katherine Shaver reported, the start date for the 16-mile light-rail link between Montgomery and Prince George’s counties could slide another seven months, into mid-2027 — or about five years after the completion target of March 2022. The culprit for this latest glitch is the relocation of utility lines. A technical report dated Nov. 28 says the delay “pertains to the complexity involved with coordinating several utilities on a single utility pole as a particular order must be followed, and each utility has their own process for requesting a relocation.”
David Abrams, Maryland state spokesman for the Purple Line, notes that the contractual deadline for completion of the project hasn’t budged — and that the report predicting fresh delays was required for financing purposes. “Building a complex transportation project through a 16-mile corridor of vibrant and active communities is never going to be an easy task,” says a statement from Abrams.
