Site work and new construction of a mixed-use development in Bethesda, Maryland. Completed plans call for site work for a transportation facility; and for the construction of a transportation facility.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/maryland/articles/2022-01-27/maryland-board-approves-new-purple-line-contractor _Maryland Board Approves New Purple Line Contractor A Maryland board has approved a new contractor for the Purple Line light-rail project in the suburbs of the nation's capital for an additional $1.46 billion. A Maryland board approved a new contractor on Wednesday for the Purple Line light-rail project in the suburbs of the nation's capital for an additional $1.46 billion. The Washington Post reports that's an almost 75% cost increase to revive the stalled project, which now has a $3.43 billion construction contract compared to its initially estimated $1.97 billion. Full construction will resume in the spring. The original construction team quit in fall 2020 amid contract disputes with the state. State officials say the 16-mile (25.7-kilometer) line will begin carrying passengers between Montgomery and Prince George's counties in fall 2026. That would be more than four years behind schedule. The Board of Public Works, whose three members are Gov. Larry Hogan, Comptroller Peter Franchot and Treasurer Dereck Davis, also approved an additional $3.7 billion for a longer-term financial agreement with the private consortium managing the project over four decades. That broader agreement, which will grow from $5.6 billion to $9.3 billion, includes higher construction and financing costs, as well as a $250 million legal settlement the state paid to the consortium after its original contractor quit. _____________________________________ https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2021/12/16/terreno-realty-bladensburg-alexandria.html Dec 16, 2021 The cost estimate of a mezzanine to connect Metro's Red Line to a future Purple Line light-rail station in downtown Bethesda has jumped from $2.4 million to $25 million. (Bethesda Magazine) _________________________________________________________ https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/11/05/purple-line-dragados-construction/ New Purple Line contractors selected to resume full construction this spring The companies, Dragados and OHL, will take over a Maryland light-rail project that's more than two years behind schedule and $250 million over budget. A new construction team selected to complete Maryland's Purple Line is expected to restart full-scale work on the stalled light-rail project this spring, state transportation officials and a private consortium managing the project said Friday. However, answers to the most pressing questions -- when the line will begin carrying passengers and how much the $2.25 billion construction project ultimately will cost -- won't be revealed until the finalized contracts go to the Maryland Board of Public Works for approval, project officials said. The timing for review by the board, made up of the governor, state treasurer and comptroller, wasn't released. Securing a new contractor would reboot a chronically troubled light-rail project that fell behind schedule even before construction started in 2017. The project has limped along after imploding last year amid a legal battle between the previous contractor and the state over delays and cost overruns. The Purple Line will now rely on a lead construction company with its own share of disputes over escalating costs and scheduling setbacks. The selected companies, Dragados USA and OHL USA, are American subsidiaries of major Spanish construction firms. They will replace the previous construction team, led by Texas-based Fluor, which quit in September 2020 following several years of cost disputes with the state. The walk-off resulted in a 16-mile stretch of construction sites left mostly abandoned through Washington's inner suburbs. The Purple Line was originally scheduled to open in March 2022 but remains about half-finished, state officials said. The time required to get the new contractor in place would add about 18 months to the schedule, in addition to the more than 2 1/2 years of delays cited by the previous contractor. Dragados and OHL offered the "best value," project officials said. Those making the selection also didn't have much choice: Though three teams were shortlisted to bid, only one other, led by a joint venture of Tutor Perini and Lunda Construction, submitted a proposal. The third team, led by Halmar International, did not end up bidding. Dragados would join the Maryland project after experiencing major delays and cost overruns on several other recent projects, according to news accounts. While it's not uncommon for large and complex infrastructure projects to finish late and over budget, the company has drawn scrutiny in at least four states. In California, it is seeking more than $500 million in additional payment for a segment of high-speed rail line it's helping to build, according to the Los Angeles Times. Those cost escalations would be in addition to $700 million worth of cost escalations the state already has approved, the Times reported. In 2019, a jury required a construction team involving Dragados to pay $57.2 million in damages to the Washington State Department of Transportation for more than two years of delays on a highway tunneling project because of a broken tunnel boring machine, according to media reports. In North Carolina, a Dragados highway project in Durham is more than two years behind schedule, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. In Texas, a joint venture that includes Dragados is more than two years late in replacing a major bridge, according to a project spokeswoman. A spokesman for Dragados could not be reached for comment Friday. Four Dragados employees reached both in the company's East Coast headquarters in New York and in satellite offices said they did not know of anyone authorized to speak to the media. John Undeland, a spokesman for the private consortium, Purple Line Transit Partners, referred questions about Dragados's selection to the Maryland Department of Transportation. The consortium, led by infrastructure investor Meridiam, is responsible for building the line, financing part of its construction and operating it for 30 years via a $5.85 billion public-private partnership. In a news release, PLTP cited Dragados's "great deal of fresh and relevant experience" on transit projects, including an automated "people mover" train at Los Angeles International Airport and three Canadian light-rail lines. An MDOT spokeswoman said state and consortium officials reached out to government agencies that had worked with Dragados and OHL while evaluating their proposal. The companies "received strong recommendations" on their "approach, partnership and ability to deliver transportation projects for the community," MDOT spokeswoman Erin Henson said in an email. The joint venture, known as Maryland Transit Solutions, "brings years of strong leadership experience and a track record of completing major and complex infrastructure and delivering transit projects from California to Canada to Spain," Henson wrote. The east-west Purple Line will connect neighborhoods, Metro lines and MARC commuter rail stations in Prince George's and Montgomery counties. Local officials are banking on its 21 stations to focus growth and attract development in older inner suburbs, particularly in Prince George's, while providing a faster and more reliable alternative to buses. It will be the first direct suburb-to-suburb rail line in the Washington area. Before quitting, the Fluor team had said construction was more than 2 1/2 years behind schedule and $800 million over budget due to ongoing problems with state permits, design complications, land acquisition and delays stemming from a lawsuit. MDOT disputed the costs and scheduling delays but eventually agreed to pay the Fluor team $250 million to settle back-and-forth lawsuits. Industry experts had predicted that competition for the rebid would be limited because some companies would be leery of taking over a large, complex project that was mostly designed and half-built by another contractor. It will require the new contractor to assume significantly higher financial risk -- costs experts say will be passed on to the state. MDOT has continued managing some of the Purple Line subcontracts, such as to move utility lines and manufacture the light-rail vehicles, since the original contractor quit. However, the lag in full-scale construction has been a major headache for Republican Gov. Larry Hogan's administration. In addition to being one of the state's largest infrastructure projects, the Purple Line has attracted national attention as the first U.S. light-rail project to include private financing. Any potential effects from pandemic-era supply chain problems also remain uncertain. Henson said such "additional risks" will be built into the updated contracts. Maryland Transportation Secretary Gregory Slater said he was excited to "move full speed ahead" with the new contractor. "We have made a lot of progress in this interim period," he said in a statement. "Today's news is one more step toward completion and one more step toward Marylanders riding on this critical transit connection." Some longtime Purple Line supporters said they welcomed what they hope will be new momentum on the beleaguered project. Gregory Sanders, vice president of the pro-transit group Purple Line Now, said residents are tired of living amid mostly dormant construction sites. They include a partially built replacement of the Talbot Avenue bridge to connect two Silver Spring neighborhoods across CSX Transportation freight rail tracks. "We're absolutely excited," Sanders said. "Maryland has been doing a lot of work in the interim, but getting the Purple Line to opening day and addressing disruptions in the meantime requires a new builder." _________________________________________________-- Please reach out to MTA directly for bid results and awards as they won't be released publicly. https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/09/08/purple-line-when-construction-resumes/wpisrc=nl_sb_smartbrief Maryland transit officials plan to have a new construction team in place by mid-February to complete the Purple Line, replacing the contractor that quit a year ago amid cost disputes with the state. That timing, which is five months later than previously planned, could have bulldozers revving up again between Montgomery and Prince George's counties in the spring. The much-delayed light-rail line, which has been under construction since 2017, initially was scheduled to begin carrying passengers in March 2022. The 16-mile line's new opening date and cost to complete will become known when the new contractor is chosen by the end of the year, MDOT officials said in a recent submission to the state's Board of Public Works. The previous contractor had said work was at least 2 1/2 years behind schedule when it quit. Advertisement Veronica Battisti, spokeswoman for the Maryland Transit Administration, said the agency and private team managing the project expect to have a new contractor selected in December and a new construction contract finalized by Feb. 17. Experts say it can take several months after a contract is signed to get heavy equipment and crews in place to resume full construction on such a large, complex project. A new construction contract previously had been scheduled to be finalized this month. Battisti said construction teams bidding on the project asked for more time to submit proposals. "Providing the contractors a little more time would deliver more value to the state in the bids," Battisti said in an email. Firms managing Purple Line construction narrow list of potential new contractors The board, which approves major state contracts, must sign off on a timing change because it would modify a $250 million Purple Line legal settlement approved in December. Advertisement The previous contractor, a team of companies led by Texas-based Fluor, quit last September over what it said were more than $755 million in delay-related cost overruns that the state had refused to pay. Maryland board approves $250 million deal to settle Purple Line construction lawsuits The Purple Line's delays and related problems have drawn national attention because it was one of the first U.S. transit projects to rely on private financing. Under a 36-year public-private partnership, a consortium called Purple Line Transit Partners is building the line and helping to finance its construction before it operates it for 30 years in exchange for monthly "availability payments" from the state. A spokesman for Purple Line Transit Partners referred questions to MDOT. In documents submitted to the Board of Public Works, MDOT said it also would like to pay the private consortium an unspecified amount "to facilitate the restructuring of the project financing" that would occur after the new contractor is selected. That money would not be an additional cost, MDOT said, because it would pay for completed work now, rather than via the future payments. Doing so, Battisti said, would reduce the financing costs associated with the project's risks. Meet the Maryland transit official responsible for getting the Purple Line built The Board of Public Works is scheduled to consider MDOT's request at its Sept. 15 meeting. MDOT has been keeping some work going over the past year, including moving utility lines and manufacturing light-rail vehicles and some of the system's electrical components. __________________________________________________________________________________ The Purple Line is a 16.2-mile light rail transit line with 21 stations that will extend from Bethesda in Montgomery County to New Carrollton in Prince George's County. It will provide a direct connection to the Metrorail Red Line at Bethesda and Silver Spring; Green Line at College Park; and the Orange Line at New Carrollton; as well as all three of the MARC rail lines and Amtrack's Northeast Corridor at New Carrollton. This project will serve the existing dense residential neighborhoods, attractions, and employment and education centers by providing faster, more direct, and more reliable service.