Dive Brief:
- Construction giant Tutor Perini has been awarded two civil projects totaling a little over $102 million, the company announced, including a $69.8 million highway project in Delaware and a $32.6 million runway improvement project in the Federated States of Micronesia.
- On the highway project, funded by the Delaware Department of Transportation, Tutor Perini will construct the first, 3.4-mile section of the four-lane U.S. 301 toll road, including interchanges and ramps, beginning in January 2016. Substantial completion is scheduled for late 2018. The company will include this project in its fourth-quarter backlog.
- Tutor Perini’s Guam subsidiary Black Construction will perform work on runway 04/22 at the Chuuk International Airport, a project funded by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program. Black will also make improvements to apron and taxiway surfaces at the airport. Work is scheduled to begin in January 2016, and substantial completion should be no later than late 2017. This project was included in the company’s third-quarter backlog.
Dive Insight:
California-based Tutor Perini is one of the largest construction companies in the U.S., reporting revenue of 4.5 billion for the year ending 2014 and $1.5 billion for the third quarter of this year.
Aside from its civil work, Tutor Perini also has several sports stadium projects in its portfolio. Tutor Perini CEO Ronald Tutor made headlines last month when he said there’s not much profit margin on stadiums and arenas, contradicting an analyst’s statement that building sports facilities was a "high margin" business.
Tutor came in 39th on the 2014 Equilar-New York Times list of the 200 most highly compensated executives, at $25.5 million.
Tutor Perini is also a joint venture partner in the $1.35 billion tunnel replacement project for Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct, which has been at a standstill for two years after the tunnel-boring machine, dubbed Bertha, broke down.
The Washington State Department of Transportation is suing the joint venture, Seattle Tunnel Partners, over the delays, and STP is asking WSDOT for $125 million in extra compensation, claiming the agency failed to inform them about a 119-foot steel well casing in Bertha's path, which STP said caused the damage to Bertha and the delays.
