Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation wrote to Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Wednesday, saying that their “deep” concerns about the fate of the Purple Line “have grown exponentially” since the consortium managing the project terminated its contract.
In a letter to Hogan, the nine Democratic lawmakers urged the Maryland Department of Transportation to negotiate with the private consortium, Purple Line Transit Partners, over hundreds of millions in unpaid cost overruns. Meanwhile, they said, the state should simultaneously continue to make “the necessary arrangements to transition the project to MDOT if a settlement is not reached.”
“It is imperative to find a path forward as these delays mean that Maryland residents are the ones that suffer,” the letter said.
MDOT recently took over 233 subcontracts on the light-rail project to keep some work moving after the construction contractor quit in September over what it said were $800 million in unpaid cost overruns. The state also has assumed the project’s operations and maintenance contract, as well as the contract to continue manufacturing the light-rail vehicles in Upstate New York.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Katherine Shaver over at The Washington Post
