The true costs of building a Purple Line in the Maryland suburbs would reach $2.65 billion — about $650 million more than the light-rail project’s proposed contract would cover, according to a legislative analysis.
Under the contract, on which the state’s Board of Public Works is scheduled to vote on April 6, the line’s design and construction costs would total about $1.99 billion. However, the legislative review found that that dollar figure doesn’t include $447 million in construction costs that aren’t part of the contract. Those costs include buying right-of-way, doing off-site environmental mitigation, doing utility work, reviewing the final design and overseeing construction.
It also doesn’t include $198 million that the state has spent on planning the light-rail line, according to the analysis by the General Assembly’s Department of Legislative Services. The $2.65 billion figure doesn’t include financing costs, according to the analysis.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Katherine Shaver over at The Washington Post