The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is prepared to start Purple Line construction within one to two weeks if a federal judge reinstates the project’s federal approval, according to a MTA spokesman.
The state’s construction of the 16.2 light-rail line was scheduled to start late last year, but was delayed when U.S District Court Judge Richard Leon vacated the project’s federal approval in August as part of an ongoing lawsuit. MTA spokesman Ryan Nawrocki said Friday that while the lawsuit has delayed construction for more than three months, the state’s private contractor has been conducting engineering, design, surveying, planning and geotechnical investigations to prepare to build the line that would connect Bethesda with New Carrollton in Prince George’s County.
Leon vacated the project’s federal approval days before the state was scheduled to sign an agreement with the federal government to receive $900 million to help pay for the project. Leon based his decision on the belief that MTA and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) failed to account for Metro’s recent ridership decline and safety issues when the FTA approved the project to receive federal funds, an argument made by the plaintiffs.
Nawrocki said in an email the state has spent $312 million on planning, real estate and permitting costs, while not receiving federal or local reimbursements for the work.
Since Leon’s August decision, the FTA and MTA have responded in court documents that the project would meet its goals—primarily to add an east-west transit link between Montgomery and Prince George’s counties—even if Metro didn’t exist. Therefore, the agencies argued, the project did not need to be re-evaluated.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Andrew Metcalf over at Bethesda Magazine