Update: The Maryland Board of Public Works voted Wednesday to approve the Maryland Transit Administration’s and Purple Line Transit Partners’ (PLTP) request to delay plans for the already lagging Purple Line project.

“I share the frustration of our residents… and taxpayers. People who have been waiting and have deserved better. [The Purple Line] is critical to the economic competitiveness and it is critical to the quality of life of millions of people in our state,” Gov. Wes Moore said before the vote on Wednesday. “Our administration will complete this project, but we will complete it in a fiscally responsible manner, while we’re also ensuring that we are being fair and transparent with our project partners.”

Holly Arnold, administrator of the Maryland Transit Administration, said Wednesday that the administration will attempt to minimize the impact of the disruptions on businesses and residents along the Purple Line.

“All of us at MTA understand the impact that the prolonged construction creates for residents and businesses along the project,” she said.

In a statement earlier this week, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich lamented what he called former Gov. Larry Hogan’s “mismanagement” of the Purple Line project, saying it has resulted in a “poorly conceived and constructed public-private partnership.”

“This is not good news. But it’s not surprising,” he said of the delay. “This public-private partnership deal has been a ‘poster child’ for how not to do a major transportation project.”

Original: The Purple Line, an upcoming 16-mile light rail line from New Carrollton to Bethesda that has faced multiple delays, is expected to be delayed again until Spring 2027.

The line’s opening, last planned for the fall of 2026, was already more than four years behind schedule. Due to the delay, the project will now cost an additional $148 million. It was originally budgeted at $5.3 billion and was already $3.8 billion over budget.

Project director Ray Biggs announced in a Friday newsletter that the Maryland Transit Administration and Purple Line Transit Partners (PLTP) formally requested the months-long extension from the Board of Public Works. The board will vote on the issue on Wednesday.

“This schedule change reflects the ongoing challenges and complexities of completing construction in a dense urban environment, the ongoing national workforce and supply chain issues, delays in completion of utility relocation activities, and the unique history of the Purple Line Light Rail Project,” Biggs said in the newsletter.

That “unique history” includes having to replace the project’s contractor in 2022 – after a two-year pause in construction – and a lawsuit that delayed key federal environmental approval in 2016.

Signs of a delay were evident earlier this year – a monthly progress report by PLTP indicated the project faced a delay of about 218 days because utility relocations were taking longer than expected. Maryland transportation secretary Paul Wiedefeld has also said that he doesn’t “have a lot of faith” that the project would be completed on schedule.

“It has a ways to go. I’m not going to sugarcoat it for people; it’s just a reality,” he told WTOP.

In late May, Wiedefeld acknowledged the challenges in an interview with DCist/WAMU.

“It’s more than halfway there. So we’re not going backward. We’ve just got to pull this thing through and we’ll do it,” Wiedefeld said.

Holly Arnold, administrator of the Maryland Transit Administration, tweeted Friday that the Purple Line is a “complex project” and that the MTA is working to accelerate the project and minimize delays.

“We recognize the impact of construction on the communities,” Arnold wrote. “We will be transparent about the challenges as we continue to deliver the Purple Line.”

The MTA says it is “rescheduling certain work to run concurrently rather than sequentially, resequencing work activities, extending work hours, adding additional crews, revising maintenance of traffic plans, and ordering materials in advance to ensure timely delivery” to stay on time.

The line is expected to increase access to transportation in the D.C. suburbs and connect Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties. The line will include 21 stations east to west that connect directly to Metro lines at Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park, and New Carrollton. It will also provide access to MARC, Amtrak, and local bus services.

Jordan Pascale contributed reporting.