The Maryland Department of Transportation will pay an additional $250 million to salvage a 36-year partnership with the companies managing construction of the Purple Line, state officials said Tuesday.
The settlement ends the state’s and companies’ lawsuits against each other and resolves what the firms had said were $800 million in construction cost overruns on the light-rail project between Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, MDOT said.
As part of the agreement, Texas-based Fluor will exit the partnership, leaving infrastructure investors Meridiam and Star America as the remaining members of the consortium known as Purple Line Transit Partners (PLTP). Fluor also had been the primary construction contractor but had walked off the 16 miles of construction sites in September over the delays and related cost escalations.
“This agreement is a major step toward completing the Purple Line, a transformative project for our state and the region,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said in a statement.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Katherine Shaver over at The Washington Post