LA Metro receives award for Eastside Extension construction project

The Los Angeles Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension Project was presented with the 2010 Outstanding Project of the Year Award by the Underground Construction Association of Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration at the North American Tunneling Conference held June 20 in Portland, Ore.

The award recognizes the
$898.8-million, six-mile-long Light Rail Transit Project for the tunnel design,
construction management and construction methods that were adopted, which
resulted in the successful completion of the tunnel segment (1.7 miles) with
virtually no surface impact.

Metro specified for the
first time the use of pressure face tunnel boring machines to advance the
tunnels through soft ground in a cut and cover and twin-bored tunnel
structures.

The Metro Gold Line
Eastside Extension began construction in 2004 and opened to the public in
November 2009 on time and within budget, with more than 4.25 million safe work hours
without a single accident that would have resulted in a lost day work.

The new segment has eight
stations, two of them underground, linking communities in Little Tokyo/Arts
District, Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. The Metro Rail system has 79
miles of rail that crisscrosses Los Angeles County.