Phillips: low bid on light rail tunnel means University Link is on track

August 27, 2009

Summary

Three major U-Link contracts $117 million below estimates

Story

Sound Transit Boardmember Larry Phillips said today that news of a low bid on the last major tunnel contract for University Link light rail means the project is so far on track to be built on time and on budget. Bids for the last of three tunnel contracts to extend light rail between Downtown Seattle, Capitol Hill and the University of Washington were opened yesterday. The low bids for all three contracts have come in below the engineer’s estimates, for a total potential savings of $117 million.

“It’s still early in the construction process, but it’s great news to see bids coming in below estimates for a complex project that involves tunneling under both I-5 and the ship canal,” said Phillips, chair of the Central Link Oversight Committee that oversaw the on-time, under-budget construction of the initial light rail segment. “With favorable bids on all the major University Link construction contracts, we’ve cleared the first major hurdle for keeping the project on time and on budget and can now focus on the work ahead.”

Bids opened yesterday were for tunneling between Capitol Hill and the existing Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel. The apparent low bid came back $20.7 million below the engineer’s estimate. In March, the low bid for the largest University Link contract, tunneling between University of Washington and Capitol Hill, came back $86.2 million under the engineer’s estimate. A contract awarded at the beginning of the year to tunnel under I-5 was $10.2 million under the engineer’s estimate. That work is already underway.

The University Link extension will add 3.15 miles to the 13.9 mile light rail initial segment that opened in July. The project’s total budget is $1.9 billion, and it is currently on schedule to be completed in 2016. The extension is projected to add 70,000 daily riders to the system.