Contractors will soon dig beneath the Hudson Yards neighborhood in New York City to carve out a new section of the Hudson Tunnel project, according to a news release.
A joint venture between Los Angeles-based contractors Frontier-Kemper and its parent company, Tutor Perini, recently won a $1.18 billion design-build contract to build a critical section of the project, according to the Gateway Development Commission.
The contract covers the rail tunnel project tubes from the Manhattan Bulkhead in the Hudson River to the cut-and-cover Hudson Yards Concrete casing east of 12th Avenue, according to the news release. Construction will begin in the spring of 2025, with substantial completion expected in 2029, according to a Tutor Perini news release.
The project requires designing and building about 700 feet of twin 30-foot-diameter tunnels. The portion of the tunnel between the Manhattan Bulkhead and 12th Avenue will be a temporary tunnel shell with the primary purpose of clearing the pathway for the future final tunnel to be installed by tunnel boring machines. The contract also includes the design and construction of an access shaft at 12th Avenue, which will later be converted into a permanent vertical facility, according to the release.
“The Manhattan Tunnel Project is one of the most technically complex pieces of the Hudson Tunnel Project,” said GDC CEO Tom Prendergast in the release. “Building anything underground in Manhattan requires careful planning and expert execution, as I know from overseeing multiple subway expansion projects.”
Crews will navigate major sewer lines, live utilities and other obstructions, including remnants of the collapsed West Side Highway and old pile foundations.
To build through these challenges, the JV team proposed excavating the tunnel using a protective digging shield, according to the release. This method would enable the majority of construction to take place underground, improving safety and significantly reducing the impacts of construction on surface roads and sidewalks.
The contract adds on to GDC’s push to advance the broader Hudson Tunnel Project, a key part of the $16 billion Gateway Program. The program is one of the largest infrastructure projects underway in the United States.
