The following updates on construction in Montgomery have been provided by PurpleLineMd
• Beginning on or about March 14, 2022, crews will begin underground utility relocations on the north side of the CSX tracks between 16th Street and Fenwick Lane. Work may take place 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and weekends, as needed, through April.
• Crews continue utility relocations on Ramsey Avenue between Bonifant Street and the Silver Spring Transit Center through the end of May. Work may take place 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and weekends, as needed. This segment of Ramsey Avenue near Bonifant Street will be closed to vehicular traffic through the completion of the work. Pedestrian access will be maintained during the closure.
• Crews continue utility relocations on Wayne Avenue (MD 594A) from Fenton Street to Sligo Creek Parkway. Work may take place 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., on weekdays and as needed, weekends. Overnight work will occur intermittently, as scheduled by utility companies. Temporary lane and sidewalks closures will occur. Flagging operations will be in place as needed.
• Crews continue utility relocations at the intersection of Wayne Avenue (MD 594A) and Sligo Creek Parkway through the end of March, weather permitting. Work may take place 9 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays, and as needed, on weekends. Temporary lane closures will occur and flagging operations will be in place.
• Originally scheduled for February 28, 2022, work has been postponed until April 10, 2022. Bonifant Street (East) will be closed to vehicular traffic between Georgia Avenue and Fenton Street for up to 4 consecutive nights. Work may take place 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., weather permitting. At least one sidewalk will be maintained for pedestrian access to Bonifant Street during the road closure.
• Beginning on or about March 9, 2022, crews may perform underground utility relocation that requires work progressing in stages across all lanes of Piney Branch Road near Garland Avenue. Work may take place 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. for 2 nights, weather permitting. Temporary lane closures around the work zone will occur.
• Crews continue utility relocations work in the northbound/eastbound shoulder and sidewalk of Piney Branch Road between Arliss Street and Barron Street through the end of March, weather permitting. Work may take place 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and weekends, as needed. The northbound/eastbound sidewalk will be closed during work hours with pedestrian detours in place. Bus Stops 24908 and 24910 will be temporarily closed while work progresses down Piney Branch Road. Flagging operations will be implemented at the intersection of Garland Avenue as work progresses east.
• Crews continue utility relocations work in the northbound/eastbound shoulder and sidewalk of Piney Branch Road between Arliss Street and Barron Street through the end of March, weather permitting. Work may take place 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and weekends, as needed. The northbound/eastbound sidewalk will be closed during work hours with pedestrian detours in place. Bus Stops 24908 and 24910 will be temporarily closed while work progresses down Piney Branch Road. Flagging operations will be implemented at the intersection of Garland Avenue as work progresses east.
BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS APPROVES PURPLE LINE P3 AGREEMENT MODIFICATION WITH NEW DESIGN-BUILD TEAM
Light Rail Line Scheduled to Open in Fall 2026
From the Maryland Department of Transportation:
Baltimore, MD (January 26, 2022) — The Maryland Board of Public Works (BPW) today unanimously approved a modification to the Purple Line Public-Private Partnership Agreement (P3 Agreement) with the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), MDOT Maryland Transit Administration (MDOT MTA), and Purple Line Transit Partners (PLTP) to select Maryland Transit Solutions (MTS) as the new design-build team to complete the Purple Line light rail project. MTS, comprised of Dragados USA Inc. and OHL USA Inc., was selected by PLTP, in coordination with MDOT MTA, after a competitive Request for Proposals process.
The modified P3 Agreement has a cost of $9.284 billion, which includes the $3.4 billion Design-Build cost to begin full-scale construction later this spring with transit operations starting for Marylanders in fall 2026 across the entire system from New Carrollton to Bethesda. The Design-Build cost to complete the Purple Line construction has increased by $1.4 billion from $2 billion to $3.4 billion. Reflecting the post-pandemic market, the total project cost includes rising material costs across the industry, material shortages due to supply chain challenges, a smaller labor force, increases in the insurance market and other factors. Commercial and financial close are anticipated in the coming weeks.
“Despite the challenges over the last several years, we have never lost sight of the benefits of the Purple Line for the residents and businesses in the National Capital Region,” said MDOT MTA Administrator Holly Arnold. “Today’s action is the critical step needed to move the Purple Line from construction into an active light rail line that creates a truly interconnected regional transit system. We wouldn’t be here today without the true partnership with Purple Line Transit Partners and the support of our county, state and federal partners to get this project built.”
“Since we and MDOT MTA selected Maryland Transit Solutions as providing the best value to the people of Maryland, we’ve been working closely with MTS to help them hit the ground running,” said Jane Garvey, chairman, PLTP Board of Directors. “We’re very pleased to resume major construction so the Purple Line can begin serving Maryland travelers as soon as possible.”
BENEFITS OF THE PURPLE LINE
The 16.2-mile, 21-station Purple Line between New Carrollton in Prince George’s County and Bethesda in Montgomery County is a critical infrastructure project expanding transit opportunities in two of the most populated counties in the state. The project will offer convenient east-west transit access for jobs, school, shopping and recreation, and provide connections across the region with links to five branches of Metrorail, three MARC commuter rail lines, Amtrak and a host of bus services.
The Purple Line will relieve vehicle traffic in the National Capital region – one of the most congested areas of the country – and will spur economic growth through community revitalization and job creation. Project construction supports more than 6,000 jobs, with 26% for design services going to small and minority-owned businesses and 22% for construction going to small and minority-owned businesses. The Purple Line also will expand opportunities for Marylanders by MDOT partnering with Montgomery and Prince George’s counties on transit-oriented development and economic development around Purple Line stations.
P3 AGREEMENT SUMMARY
The overall $9.284 billion P3 Agreement to deliver the Purple Line for Marylanders includes several elements: the MTS design-build contract to complete design and construction; Purple Line Transit Operators to operate and maintain the line for 30 years; PLTP to provide management oversight of all elements of the Purple Line for the life of the project; and MDOT to repay debt and equity.
The P3 Agreement modification also shortens, clarifies and streamlines the process for any dispute resolution between parties. Separate and distinct from the dispute resolution process, the P3 Agreement also was modified to remove the right to unconditionally terminate the P3 Agreement for extended delay (utilized by the previous design-build contractor as a basis to leave the project). The right to conditionally terminate for extended delay also has been narrowed. The contractor can conditionally elect to terminate in the case of an extended “force majeure” event that is out of the control of either party, such as war, an act of terrorism, fire and flood, but that is not a unilateral right and the owner can elect to continue in that event.
The P3 model enables the state to leverage investment and expertise from the private sector to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the light rail line. The P3 is an innovative solution to deliver this long-planned link between Prince George’s and Montgomery counties. Private sector funding for the Purple Line allows the state to balance limited Transportation Trust Fund resources and honor infrastructure commitments across the state.
Without the P3 model and its financing and operating components, MDOT MTA would not be able to expand transit into the National Capital Region without incurring additional cost to establish operations outside its core Baltimore service area.
FINANCING THE PURPLE LINE
Factors influencing the updated Purple Line cost in the post-pandemic world would have impacted the project regardless of selected partners or previous bids. Supply chain issues, rising material costs, labor shortages and insurance increases – all of which carry their own costs and also affect industry risk assessment and allocation – could not have been foreseen prior to the pandemic. MDOT, other government agencies, local jurisdictions and private firms across the nation are experiencing significant increases on major projects due to these and other related factors.
Due to all of these factors and the post-pandemic market, the Design-Build cost has increased by $1.4 billion from $2 billion to $3.4 billion to complete the Purple Line construction. The project, which originally was scheduled to be complete in March 2022, will be open for service for Marylanders in Fall 2026.
As outlined in the BPW agenda item, the P3 Agreement cost in 2016 was $5.59 billion, with a BPW approved modification of $250 million in December 2020. Today, BPW approved the additional P3 Agreement modification of $3.444 billion and the revised total projected P3 Agreement cost of $9.284 billion.
PLTP will finance the additional project cost through a combination of debt and equity that will be repaid through availability payments made by the state. PLTP also has agreed to reduce its rate of return – essentially what it gets back on the project – by 20%. The P3 Agreement includes operational and performance targets that must be met by the partners in order to receive the full availability payments.
DESIGN-BUILD CONTRACTOR
As outlined above, the Design-Build cost has increased by $1.4 billion from $2 billion to $3.4 billion to complete the Purple Line construction, reflecting the post-pandemic market with rising material costs across the industry, material shortages due to supply chain challenges, a smaller labor force, increases in the insurance market and other factors. The project, which originally was scheduled to be complete in March 2022, will open for service for Marylanders in Fall 2026.
As the new design-build contractor, MTS brings strong leadership experience and a track record of completing major and complex infrastructure and delivering transit projects. MDOT is confident MTS will deliver a completed project in the shortest time possible.
MTS is comprised of Dragados USA Inc. and OHL USA Inc. Dragados comes to the Purple Line with immense experience in delivering transit systems. Among their notable projects are the $2.4 billion Los Angeles International Airport Automated People Mover and three light rail projects in Canada with a combined value of $5.5 billion. Dragados was ranked sixth on Engineering News Record’s 2020 Top Transportation Contractors List. OHL has more than a century of infrastructure construction experience and is ranked number 15 on Engineering News Record’s 2020 Top 50 Domestic Heavy Contractors List.
DESIGN-BUILD CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE
MTS will begin mobilizing staff and equipment to begin full-scale construction later this spring. The team’s updated construction schedule will enable the Purple Line to begin revenue service in fall 2026 and will allow for the entire light rail line to open at the same time instead of opening in phases as proposed previously. This approach will enable the Purple Line to provide seamless, system-wide benefits from day one.
Following Financial and Commercial Close in the coming weeks, MTS will start full-scale construction in spring 2022.
The Light Rail vehicles are continuing in production in Elmira, N.Y. Of the 28 Light Rail vehicles, eight are complete and available for shipment now; an additional eight are complete and are undergoing static testing; and another eight are being assembled now.
In fall 2023, Light Rail vehicles are scheduled to arrive at the Glenridge Operations & Maintenance Facility in Prince George’s County.
In summer 2024, the Test Track is expected to be complete for local testing and operator training.
In winter 2025, construction is scheduled to have progressed enough to allow systemwide testing and commissioning activities will be ongoing.
In fall 2026, revenue service is scheduled to begin on the full line with all 21 stations operational at one time. This approach will enable the Purple Line to provide seamless, system-wide benefits to Marylanders from day one.
BPW APPROVES ADDITIONAL CONTRACTS TO CONTINUE MDOT MTA WORK STARTED DURING THE DESIGN-BUILD SEARCH
As outlined in today’s BPW P3 Agreement agenda item, PLTP and MDOT MTA pursued an aggressive schedule to select a new design-build contractor. While procurements of this magnitude often take 18 months to two years to complete, the replacement of the Purple Line design-build contractor was accomplished in just more than a year.
On a parallel path, MDOT MTA managed more than 150 Purple Line contracts and oversaw several key milestones that benefit the project construction, substantially reducing risk for the new design-build contractor. This work advanced design components, secured critical stormwater management permits and completed numerous outstanding utility relocations with approximately 66% of all project utility relocations now complete. These accomplishments will greatly assist the new design-build contractor as they begin full-scale construction.
While most of the 150 plus Purple Line contracts are being assumed by MTS, BPW today also approved five new MDOT MTA contracts totaling $15.4 million in separate agenda items to allow current unfinished work including utility relocation, concrete and other construction work to be completed. In addition, BPW approved a 48-month, $15 million contract modification for the General Engineering Consultant’s continued technical oversight of this design and construction work.
MDOT MTA is one of the largest multi-modal transit systems in the United States. MDOT MTA operates LocalLink Bus service, Commuter Bus, Light RailLink, Metro SubwayLink, MARC Train service and a comprehensive Mobility paratransit system. MDOT MTA’s goal is to provide safe, efficient and reliable transit across Maryland with world-class customer service. As a participating agency in APTA’s Health and Safety Commitment Program, MDOT MTA is dedicated to keeping our employees and passengers safe throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Purple Line has selected a partner to complete construction. Construction is not expected to begin until spring 2022.
More info available in the full press release below:
Purple Line Transit Partners (PLTP), in close partnership with the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), has selected Maryland Transit Solutions (MTS) to complete the Purple Line.
The comprehensive and joint PLTP-MDOT MTA evaluation selected MTS, comprised of Dragados USA Inc. and OHL USA Inc., as offering the best value.
The next steps in the procurement process include finalizing contracts as PLTP advances efforts to secure required financing. MDOT MTA intends to return to the Maryland Board of Public Works (BPW) with the selected contractor, replacement design-build contract and amended P3 Agreement, which will include an updated project cost and schedule for completion.
Following anticipated BPW approval, commercial and financial close (i.e., agreement on financing and other commercial terms) is anticipated in February 2022. Next spring, MTS is expected to mobilize and resume full- scale construction of the Purple Line.
“We’re very excited to bring on MTS so the Purple Line can begin serving the people of Maryland as soon as possible,” said Jane Garvey, chairman, PLTP Board of Directors. “In their proposal, discussions and oral presentation, MTS showed they possess all the right qualities – thorough knowledge of the project, across-the- board expertise and a demonstrated spirit of partnership – to get the job done efficiently and with excellence.”
“I’m excited to partner with Maryland Transit Solutions to move full speed ahead with construction and delivery of this regionally important project,” said MDOT Secretary Greg Slater. “We have made a lot of progress in this interim period. Today’s news is one more step towards completion and one more step towards Marylanders riding on this critical transit connection. I want to thank everyone for their continued patience as we work hard to get the Purple Line back on track.”
While procurements of this magnitude can take 18 months to two years to complete, the replacement of the Purple Line contractor is on track to be completed in just over a year. The process began in January 2021 when PLTP issued a Request for Qualifications, followed in March by a short-listing of teams and issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP). During the summer and fall, PLTP and MDOT MTA held one-on-one discussions with proposal teams and refined the RFP. In October, PLTP received compliant and responsive proposals from MTS and a joint venture of Tutor-Perini and Lunda, while a third shortlisted team, Halmar International, opted not to submit a proposal.
“Working in lockstep with MDOT MTA, we’re heartened that our procurement effort attracted two quality bids and we thank Tutor-Perini/Lunda for their strong proposal,” Garvey said.
Dragados comes to the Purple Line with a great deal of fresh and relevant experience in delivering transit projects. Among their notable projects are the $2.4 billion Los Angeles International Airport Automated People Mover and three light rail projects in Canada with a combined value of $5.5 billion. Dragados was ranked sixth on Engineering News Record’s (ENR) 2020 Top Transportation Contractors List. OHL has more than a century of infrastructure construction experience and is ranked number 15 on ENR’s 2020 Top 50 Domestic Heavy Contractors List.
The Purple Line will be a 16-mile, 21-station light rail line providing rapid, convenient transit service between New Carrollton in Prince George’s County and Bethesda in Montgomery County. The east-west line will connect with five branches of Metrorail, three MARC commuter rail lines, Amtrak and a host of bus services. While supporting community revitalization and transit-oriented development, the Purple Line also will help reduce dependence on auto travel: Twenty years after service begins, the Purple Line is estimated to take 17,000 vehicles off the road daily, saving a projected one million gallons of gasoline annually (source: Final Environmental Impact Statement1).
Purple Line Transit Partners is headquartered in Riverdale Maryland and holds the Public-Private Partnership Agreement (P3 Agreement) with MDOT MTA to design, build, finance, and operate the Purple Line Light Rail Project. PLTP is comprised of majority partner Meridiam and Star America.
Meridiam, with $18 billion of assets under management and over 100 projects to date in the U.S., Latin America, Canada, Europe and Africa, is a leading public infrastructure developer, investor and manager committed to delivering sustainable and resilient infrastructure projects that positively impact communities for the long-term. Star America, a subsidiary of Tikehau Capital, is a U.S.-headquartered developer and manager of infrastructure assets in North America with investments in projects that have a total asset value of more than $5 billion as of June 30, 2021.
Purple line construction will cause some minor closures and delays later this month. They can be seen below:
• Beginning on or about October 18, 2021, a segment of Rock Creek Trail will be closed in the work zone (identified in the graphic below) to the public for approximately 3 weeks.
Work may take place from 7.a.m to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, weather permitting. The Rock Creek Trail will be open to the public after 5 p.m. on weekdays and throughout the weekend.
A signed detour will be in place while the segment of trail is closed during daylight hours.
• Beginning on or about October 18, 2021, crews will perform utility relocations on Barron Street between Piney Branch Road (MD 320) and Gilbert Place for one week, weather permitting.
Work may take place from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and weekends as needed. Temporary lane closures will occur with flagging operations.
• Beginning on or about October 24, 2021, crews will begin utility relocations at the intersection of University Boulevard (MD 193) and Piney Branch Road (MD 320) overnight through the end of November, weather permitting.
Work may take place from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. weekdays and weekends, as needed. Temporary lane closures will occur with a minimum of one lane in each direction maintained around the work zone and flagging operations in place as needed. Please obey construction signage near the work zones.
Purple Line development faces contract dispute.
Purple Line Transit Partners (PLTP), the consortium of companies building the Purple Line, plans to pull out of the public-private partnership next month on August 22 unless a new contract agreement is reached. The dispute comes from rising costs and construction delays. Cost overruns for the $2 billion project now total $755 million. In addition, the contractors claim that a 2014 environmental lawsuit delayed the project for 266 days. Both state officials and PLTP have stated that they are committed to negotiating a settlement before August.
With this dispute, construction still continues in downcounty. Zones in Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Greater Lyttonsville/Woodside, Silver Spring, and Long Branch have begun construction this past July. For more updates, visit: https://www.purplelinemd.com/construction/construction-updates
Featured photo courtesy of the Purple Line MD Twitter page (@PurpleLineMD)
By Nyrene Monforte
