Sound Transit bids for light rail tunneling below estimate

Written by jrood

Sound Transit opened bids for work that will get under way next year to bore light rail tunnels connecting Capitol Hill and the existing Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel. The apparent low bid was submitted by JCM U-Link Joint Venture, formed by Jay Dee Contractors of Livonia, Mich.; Frank Collucio Construction Company of Seattle; and Michaels Corporation of Brownsville, Wis. Its bid of $153,556,000 came in 12 percent, or $20.7 million, below the Sound Transit engineer's estimate of $174,304,700.  

"The bids we opened today
show that Puget Sound taxpayers will continue to benefit from the current
favorable construction market," said Sound Transit Link Light Rail Executive
Director Ahmad Fazel. "University Link light rail construction is well under way
and late next year we will reach the exciting milestone of launching a tunnel
boring machine from the Capitol Hill Station."

Sound Transit will review
the apparent low bid to ensure it meets all project requirements and prepare a
motion for review by the Sound Transit Board this fall. Sound Transit set a
goal of nine percent of the contract award to be performed by small businesses
subcontractors.  The apparent low bid set a 9.67 percent small business
goal.

The second bid received
was very close to the lowest, at $154,139,000. It was submitted by Kenny/Shea
Joint Venture, formed by Kenny Construction of Northbrook, Ill. and J.F. Shea
Construction of Walnut, Calif.

University Link
construction is currently under way at the locations where underground stations
will serve Capitol Hill, located east of Broadway next to Seattle Central
Community College and University of Washington’s Husky Stadium. Crews are also
currently working along Interstate 5 at the Olive Way exit to prepare the
structures beneath the freeway for the tunnel boring machines to pass through.

The $1.9-billion University
Link extension, located entirely underground, is expected to open in 2016,
adding more than 70,000 riders a day to the system. With the Sound Transit 2
package that voters approved on Nov. 4, daily light rail ridership across a
55-mile regional light rail system is projected to total more than 286,000 by
2030.

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