The scheduled completion target of fall 2026 for Maryland’s $3.4-billion Purple Line light rail project has been pushed back yet again, with protracted utility relocation work potentially pushing operation of the already-delayed project to mid-2027 for its new construction team.
According to the latest construction progress report to project bondholders, dated last Nov. 30, and posted a month later, efforts to address the complex web of utility systems along the 16.2-mile route across two suburban counties of Washington, D.C. have slowed progress by Maryland Transit Solutions (MTS), a design-build consortium led by Dragados and OHLA that took over the project in late 2021 following the negotiated departure of the original Fluor-led team in fall 2020.