Dive Brief:
- The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has awarded two New York City East Side Access contracts totaling $742 million to Tutor Perini.
- The $10 billion East Side Access is a commuter rail project that will connect an estimated 160,000 Long Island Rail Road passengers to Grand Central Terminal starting in 2022, as well as relieve congestion and reduce travel times throughout both the LIRR and Metro-North Railroad lines.
- One contract, worth $663 million, involves building and completing four platforms and eight tracks for the new LIRR terminal 100 feet below Grand Central. The other contract, worth $79 million, is for a tunnel approach and bridge rebuild in Sunnyside, Queens, Railway Age reported.
Dive Insight:
In November, the project's chief engineer said the East Side access project will cost an estimated $1 million per foot — one of the most expensive transit projects in U.S. history.
"These are significant milestones for East Side Access and will turn raw underground caverns into the modern station that LIRR customers will use when they head directly to and from the East Side of Manhattan," MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas Prendergast said in a release.
Tutor Perini — which the selection committee said was the lowest and best bidder — was chosen after a year-long procurement process, during which seven companies submitted proposals for the project.
Across the country, work is currently stalled on Tutor Perini's Seattle Tunnel Partners joint venture for the $1.35 billion Alaskan Way Viaduct project in Seattle. The tunnel-boring machine, dubbed Bertha, had only just resumed tunneling after a two-year breakdown when the formation of a sinkhole caused Gov. Jay Inslee and the Washington State Department of Transportation to stop all tunneling work until the root cause could be found.
STP, which also includes New York-based Dragados USA, said it is addressing the sinkhole issue and that it believes the governor should allow operations to resume.
