Kiewit-Parsons, a Joint Venture on August 14 was awarded the main design-build contract for the next phase of the Foothill Gold Line light rail extension in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.
The contract includes an $805.6 million base scope for the first nine miles of the project in LA County, from Glendora to Pomona, with a two-year contract option to complete the full 12.3-mile project to Montclair in San Bernardino County for a total contract amount of $1,186.9 million if additional funds are secured by September 2021.
The base scope includes all elements of design and construction for the first nine-mile segment, including relocation of the existing freight track, installation of the light rail track system, four new light rail stations (in Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne and Pomona), improvements at 40 grade crossings (nearly half with new or renovated bridges) and much more. The contract option would extend the work of the design-build team to complete the full 12.3-mile project to Montclair and add stations in Claremont and Montclair.
“This team presented the best of both worlds; the top ranked team in all technical categories and the lowest bid price based on the formula set out in the RFP for the base scope to Pomona and contract option to Montclair,” said Construction Authority Board Chairman and Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval, in a news release.
Officials say the project will begin major construction in 2020 and take approximately five years to complete to Pomona and eight years to complete to Montclair, if the contract option is activated. The Construction Authority says that it is estimated that during construction alone, the Foothill Gold Line project will create as many as 16,000 jobs and up to $2.6 billion of economic output for the region, as well as up to $1 billion in labor income and potentially $40 million in tax revenue.
The Glendora to Montclair section is an extension of the Metro Gold Line light rail system that currently runs between East Los Angeles and Azusa. As with the Pasadena to Azusa route, the extension from Glendora to Montclair is planned to be built along the former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (ATSF) right-of-way, which was purchased by Metro in the early 1990s for the project.
Once complete, a trip from Montclair to downtown Pasadena will take just over 40 minutes and further to Los Angeles will take approximately 75 minutes.
Kiewit and Parsons have teamed up dozens of times in the last two decades to complete design-build projects, including successfully building the first two segments of the Foothill Gold Line.
The Kiewit-Parsons JV was awarded by the design-build contract by the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority Board of Directors. The Construction Authority is an independent transportation planning and construction agency created by the California State Legislature to plan, design and build the Metro Gold Line light rail system from Union Station to Montclair, along the Foothills of the San Gabriel Valley. The agency completed the first segment from Union Station to Pasadena in 2003 and the Pasadena to Azusa segment in 2015.
The Foothill Gold Line was the first Measure M-funded light rail project to break ground and is named as one of Metro’s 28 priority projects to be completed before the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
