Purple Line construction workers will be packed up and ready to leave by mid-October, contractor says

The clock is running out on Maryland reaching a settlement to keep the light-rail contractor on the job amid cost disputes

Chevy Chase, MD — JUNE 24: Construction continues on a Purple Line overpass over Connecticut Avenue in Chevy Chase in June. Steel girders have since been installed over the road. (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post)

Workers building Maryland’s Purple Line will have construction sites packed up and secured in preparation for leaving the job in mid-October, a spokeswoman for the contractor said Thursday.

State officials said Tuesday that new construction on the light-rail line had stopped and workers had begun to button up the 16 miles of construction sites, but they did not say exactly when the contractor planned to leave.

Maryland officials have said the state will take over managing the project in the short-term while the Maryland Transit Administration figures out a longer-term plan for finishing — and paying for — the remaining $1 billion worth of construction.

The state and the team of companies overseeing the construction, Purple Line Transit Partners, have been feuding over what PLTP says are $800 million in cost overruns related to more than 2½ years of delays.

State officials have said they are still trying to reach a settlement on the unpaid costs. However, Carla Julian, spokeswoman for the construction contractor, Purple Line Transit Constructors, said workers are continuing to demobilize.

The Purple Line has received national attention as one of the first U.S. transit projects to be built via a public-private partnership, including private financing.