Just weeks after being on the brink of cancellation, Maryland’s Purple Line light-rail project officially has begun construction. Riding the momentum of a favorable federal appeals-court ruling in July and a signed $900-million federal funding commitment, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) punctuated an Aug. 27 groundbreaking ceremony by demolishing a state-owned storage building at the site of the 16-mile transit system’s new operations center in the Washington, D.C., suburbs.
“We made it,” said state Secretary of Transportation Pete K. Rahm, referring to the $5.6-billion public-private partnership’s arduous preconstruction journey, which included several lawsuits over environmental impacts and financial viability over the past 25 years. Hogan threatened to drop the project upon taking office in 2014 unless the state share of the then-estimated $2.45 billion cost could be cut. Increased local government contributions and $550 million in savings from the winning bidder, Fluor-led Purple Line Transit Partners, put the project back on track. But before an original mid-2016 groundbreaking, it was stymied again by a new lawsuit over ridership projections.