The group of construction companies building Maryland’s Purple Line said Friday they may pull out of the unfinished light rail project in 60 to 90 days, citing the state’s refusal to pay for the cost of delays and other expenses. The Washington Post first reported the news.

The $2 billion Purple Line construction project is a highly ambitious public-private partnership between Purple Line Transit Partners, the umbrella organization of companies responsible for building and operating the line, and the Maryland Department of Transportation and Maryland Transit Administration.

The completed 16-mile line will run between New Carrollton and Bethesda, connecting suburban communities in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties.

Three construction firms building the line — Fluor, The Lane Construction Co., and Traylor Bros., Inc., — make up Purple Line Transit Constructors (PLTC). On Friday, PLTC sent a formal letter to Purple Line Transit Partners of their intent to end their work, a transition they anticipate will take 60 to 90 days.

PLTC said the design-build contract allows any party to terminate its involvement if the project is delayed by more than a year. The construction group calculates that the project is now 976 days behind schedule.

Delays and added expenses have plagued the Purple Line from the beginning. The state encountered problems acquiring the right-of-way and land for parts of the line, as well as required environmental approvals. The project has also faced multiple legal challenges.

“PLTC and its member companies should not be required to finance the hundreds of millions of dollars in added costs for issues that are out of its control, not of its making,” the group’s letter reads.

PLTC said those delays have added $519 million to the total cost. But the state has disputed the contractors’ cost overrun estimates for three years. The Maryland Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to WAMU’s request for comment.

“PLTC still firmly believes in the goals and mission of the Purple Line Project and the important benefits it will deliver to Maryland,” Scott Risley, PLTC project director, said in a news release. “Unfortunately, due to circumstances outside of PLTC’s control, there were multiple delays on the project and PLTC was unable to obtain the time and cost relief to which it is entitled from MDOT/MTA. Regretfully, PLTC simply cannot complete the project under these circumstances.”

Local officials expressed frustration over a lack of transparency around project cost overruns, and how the overruns and the delay might ultimately affect taxpayers.

“My hope is that this transition will not add to an already lengthy construction schedule, but that it will provide a true status check and accounting of this project and its costs,” Montgomery County Council member Evan Glass told WAMU. “Now is the time for the state to fully inform the public about the status and cost of this project.”