Paula Wallis, Reporter

Existing tunnel

4^th bore simulation

The bid opening for the fourth bore of the Cadecott Highway Tunnel east of Oakland, California has been pushed back at the request of interested contractors. The bid opening was planned for Tuesday August 11, 2009, however Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) extended the deadline by a month to September 16 to give interested contractors more time to put their bids together. For contract details see the notice on our Procurement page.

Jeff Weiss, spokesperson for the Contra Costa County Transportation Authority that has partnered with Caltrans on the project, says the delay is not unusual.

“Caltrans did the same thing on the new span of the Bay Bridge,” said Weiss. “After all, it wants to get as many good bids as possible, so a little more time is to everyone's advantage.”

Seven prime contractors attended a mandatory pre-bid meeting by Caltrans last month. These included; Obyashi, Kiewit-Trayor, Barnard Construction, Tutor-Saliba, Kiewit Pacific, GF Atkinson and Flatiron West Inc.

Caltrans is hoping the contractors follow up with qualified bids next month. “Seven is a good turnout,” said Weiss. “Of course, we'll see how many actually put in a bid, but it seems like there is genuine interest.”

The estimated $420 million project did not attract international contractors. While the project is complex, at just over a 1,000m, the tunnel is not very long and possibly not worth the time and expense of staging an offshore construction operation. Weiss says, while it’s always interesting to see how they do things overseas, his agency is not disappointed by the interest level.

“In times of recession, it's good to keep the stimulus money in the USA. But when all is said and done, it's the lowest qualified bid that we want no matter where the contractor comes from.”

The design-bid-build project will increase highway capacity on State Route 24 between Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The fourth bore will run north of the existing Caldecott highway tunnel complex and will be approximately 3,389ft (1,033m) long and 41ft (12.5m) wide with two 12ft (3.6m) lanes. The tunnel will be constructed using the sequential excavation method (SEM). Jacobs Associates lead the detailed design team and Parsons Brinckerhoff will provide Contract Management support to Caltrans.

References

Contract procurement details - TunnelTalk Procurement
Caldecott Tunnel- May 2009 Caldecott gets go - TunnelTalk
Caldecott Tunnel-June 2008 interview with Caltrans District 4 Director (video) - TunnelCast
Caldecott history timeline (pdf) - TunnelTalk

Caltrans Caldecott Tunnel