GBT/CCT: Purple Line delays set to get longer (2026!?)

[secstate]

According to DCist, the dispute between Maryland Transit and their Purple Line contractor could push the Purple Line’s opening into 2026. This is definitely not good news for having a safe, not-too-hilly connection between DTSS and Bethesda anytime soon. I wish there could be an interim solution to get the trail open at least part-time prior to the project completion.

https://dcist.com/story/20/09/23/purple-line-maryland-metro-contractor-pack-up-construction-stop/

See you back here in 2026!

Topic

[Relwal Noj]

2026 is probably too optimistic. I think they will have a very difficult time obtaining a new contractor unless the new contract is extremely incentive laden. The contractors walking off this job are very reputable.

[mstone]

I, for one, am amazed that a public-private-partnership didn’t magically make public infrastructure easy because the difficulties are entirely because government is bad and private industry is inherently better at getting things done.

[arlcxrider]

Sure, but the private contractors claim that the delays (and delay claims) are due to glacially-slow condemnation process, ferocious opposition from deep-pocketed NIMBYs, and seemingly endless litigation. And that can be laid at the feet of “government.”

[mstone]

@arlcxrider 202412 wrote:

Sure, but the private contractors claim that the delays (and delay claims) are due to glacially-slow condemnation process, ferocious opposition from deep-pocketed NIMBYs, and seemingly endless litigation. And that can be laid at the feet of “government.”

They can claim anything. The story was that the magic of private industry would fix everything.

[lordofthemark]

@mstone 202415 wrote:

They can claim anything. The story was that the magic of private industry would fix everything.

I know something professionally about the P3 world, and there is abundant discussion of different approaches (as with any form of procurement) to structuring a P3. IIUC Governor Hogan decided to focus on cost in choosing the private partner, rather than a broader set of criteria. That kind of approach has drawbacks in a conventional procurement as well as a P3 (and IIUC at the time people said the Governor was making a mistake in focusing on cost – just as he did other changes to original Purple Line plans to reduce the cost to the State of Md)

Also the NIMBYist delays did not help.

Whoever said that P3s are magic (cite?) was of course wrong. P3s have advantages and disadvantages, which I would rather not debate here, but no procurement technique is magic.

[Author]

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