The Maryland Department of Transportation's Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) issued this week a Request for Information (RFI) for a P3 project for the delivery and financing of the Maryland National Capital Purple Line and the Baltimore Red Line.

According to the new PPP (P3) law , the Request for Information is the Administration's first outreach effort with the private sector that will provide the MTA with valuable expertise as it explores various project delivery methods and prepares for a future bid or proposal documents necessary to build and maintain cost-effective, modern transit lines.

The project

A 16-mile Purple Line to provide a direct transit link between Montgomery and Prince George's counties. The construction costs are estimated at $2.15 billion, and the projection has increased steadily in recent years. The agency also is soliciting similar ideas for a proposed $2.57 billion light-rail Red Line in Baltimore .

The Purple Line is a 16-mile light rail line with 21 stations between Bethesda and New Carrollton. The Red Line is a 14-mile light rail line with 19 stations between Woodlawn, Downtown Baltimore and Johns Hopkins Bayview; five of the stations in the downtown area are underground stations.

Responses to the RFI are due by May 8, 2013