Paula Wallis, TunnelTalk

Less than $2 million separates the two lowest bidders vying for the first of three design-build tunneling contracts in the largest mass transit project currently underway in the United States.

Alignment

At $583 million, Barnard/Judlau JV submitted the lowest of three qualified bids for the Manhattan tunnels contract. The firm, fixed price contract is Phase I of the $8.7 billion rail tunnel under the Hudson River linking New Jersey to New York city. Judlau in joint venture with Dragados of Spain is currently working on $1.5 billion worth of tunneling contracts for the East Side Access project to bring the Long Island Railroad service into Grand Central Terminal on Manhattan’s east side.

The other two bids received included a $584.5 bid from Shea/Schiavone/Skanska, JV and a $598 million bid from ARC Constructors, made up of S.A. Healy/CCA Civil/Halmar JV.

The contract includes 19,000ft (5,791m) of TBM bored hard rock tunnels (4 tubes), 5 cross passages, cavern construction of Warrington Interlocking, a 160ft deep x 160ft (49m x49m) diameter shaft, plus utility and sitework.

New Jersey Transit will evaluate the bids for conformance to bonding and other criteria. Award of the contract is anticipated by the end of the year for a construction start of early next year.

Bids for Phase II, the estimated $500 million Palisades Tunnels on the New Jersey side of the Hudson are due December 2, 2009. The same three JVs plus one more, OHL/Tully JV, pre-qualified to bid this contract, which has an estimated $250 million value. It includes TBM bored tunnels running through the Palisades hard rock to the Hoboken access shaft. The twin tunnels will be approximately 5,200ft (1,584m) long, and will have a finished inside diameter of about 24ft 6in (7.6m).

Meanwhile the pre-qualification process is underway for the estimated $500 million Hudson River crossing. This third and final design-build contact extends the twin bored tunnels 7,300ft (2,225m) under the Hudson River starting at the Hoboken Shaft in New Jersey, and ending at the Twelfth Avenue Shaft, in Manhattan, New York. The contract also includes the design and construction of nine cross passages. A pressurized face TBM capable of both hard rock and soft ground excavation is required.

Officials broke ground on the 3.7 mile tranist project know as Access to the Regions Core in June 2009.

References

ARC prepares Hudson Tunnels contract - TunnelTalk, Oct 2009
ARC contract update - TunnelTalk, Jul 2009
First ARC contract advertised - video - TunnelTalk, May 2009
Access to the Regions Core - video - TunnelTalk, Feb 2009

ARC contractor information