The State of Maryland, along with its partners – Meridiam, Star America, and Fluor – announced Tuesday that they had reached a $250 million agreement to settle all outstanding financial claims and litigations over the Purple Line project.
The settlement, announced by Gov. Larry Hogan in a press release, would have the state pay the Purple Line Transit Partners (Meridiam, Star America, and Fluor) $250 million. Both parties counter-sued for $800 million in cost overruns that accumulated due to other lawsuits and changes to the line’s design.
“This agreement is a major step toward completing the Purple Line, a transformative project for our state and the region,” said Governor Larry Hogan. “I would like to thank Greg Slater and our partners at Meridiam and Star America for coming together to find a path forward that will lead to a new contractor. We continue to make progress on all of the highest priority transportation projects across Maryland.”
The Purple Line connects Bethesda to Carrollton, and at $5.6 billion, is one of the biggest public-private partnerships for infrastructure in the United States. While it was supposed to be completed in 2022, estimates now put the completion sometime in 2024.
The settlement still needs to be approved by the Board of Public Works, but if approved, Meridiam and Star American would begin the process of finding a new design-build contractor in cooperation with the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) following Fluor’s departure from the partnership.
“When you are trying to solve complex issues, collaboration is the key. In big projects like this, there are challenges you will encounter, and it takes a good partnership to work together productively on solutions,” said Transportation Secretary Gregory Slater. “Even in the most challenging parts of the negotiations, Chairman Garvey and I spoke every day focused on coming together to deliver this project for the citizens of Maryland.”
In the meantime, MDOT and MTA will oversee work on the line, including light rail car, manufacturing, bridgework, stormwater drainage, paving, utility, and pump station construction.