August 26, 2010 – The Los Angeles Business Journal came out this week with their list of the county’s largest construction projects. The Foothill Extension Phase 2A, which broke ground June 26, 2010, was ranked fifth out of the top 50 projects under construction as of August 1.
Completion of the Foothill Extension Phase 2A will cost nearly $700 million – $485 million of which will be spent on construction (the amount used for the recent ranking).
Three contracts will be awarded to complete Phase 2A. The first $18 million design-build contract for the Iconic Freeway Structure (IFS) was awarded in June 2010. The IFS is a 584-linear-foot bridge over the I-210 Freeway, allowing connection between the existing Sierra Madre Villa station and the future Arcadia station.
Procurement for the $400+ million Phase 2A Alignment work – including design, construction and financing of the stations, bridges, crossings, Maintenance & Operations facility, track, utilities and more – is also underway. Three teams were pre-qualified in Spring 2010, and the Construction Authority board approved issuance of the Request for Proposals to these teams at their meeting yesterday. Proposals are due January 27, 2011 and a contract award is anticipated in Spring 2011.
Finally, a third design-build procurement will be underway starting late 2011 to hire a team to design and construct six new parking facilities, one at each new station.
The Foothill Extension is the first rail project to break ground under Measure R (LA County’s ½-cent sales tax increase approved by voters in 2008 for traffic relief) and will result in an estimated 7,000 jobs and nearly $1 billion in economic output for the region during construction (according to a study published earlier this year by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation).
Just like that – the region took a quantum leap forward on Saturday in realizing their Gold Line Foothill Extension light-rail-riding dreams. More than 700 residents, elected officials, transportation officials, rail aficionados, and swarms of news media came out to Newcastle Park in Arcadia on Saturday to celebrate what has been (not to be cliche) quite the journey over the last decade.
Giving Thanks
The master of ceremonies was none other than KNX Radio’s Frank Mottek, whose voice works as well in person as it does on radio. He led the introductions to many of our elected officials who fought tooth and nail in the past on the legislative level to make the Gold Line Foothill Extension a reality: Congress members Judy Chu, Adam Schiff, David Dreier, and Grace Napolitano; California Senator Carol Liu and Assembly members Mike Eng, Dr. Ed Hernandez, Anthony Portantino; Supervisor Michael Antonovich; local Council members and Construction Authority Board members John Fasana, Ed Reyes, Doug Tessitor, Keith Hanks, Sam Pedroza (who gave a shout out to I Will Ride – thanks!); and Metro Board Chair and Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian.
Some took the time to reflect on the hard-fought battles over funding, while others talked about the team work it took to get to the groundbreaking. Many took the time to give thanks to Authority CEO Habib Balian – whom they credited for having fought tirelessly in every way imaginable for the project over the years. The biggest thanks to Habib might have come from Metro Board Chairman Ara Najarian, an instrumental figure throughout last year’s fight for funding, who thanked Habib for making the groundbreaking happen just days before his chairmanship comes to an end.
At around 11:30 AM, the elected officials grabbed their hard hats and gold plated shovels and officially broke ground on the Foothill Extension. Just like that – a new beginning for the region. A new beginning that’s set to bring more options to driving for millions of San Gabriel Valley residents and workers, cleaner air, a billion dollars in economic development, and thousands of much-needed jobs. One more high five for the San Gabriel Valley!
A particular booth stood out on Saturday and that was the one hosted by the Mt. Sierra College Business Club (that’s right… the college that was instrumental in starting this movement a few years ago). This group of students recently teamed up with the Authority on a project to ask San Gabriel Valley residents about their memories of transportation in the Valley over the years. The project kicked off officially at Saturday’s groundbreaking, so I encourage you to share your stories and photos. And please encourage others you know to do the same. Visit: www.sgvrememberswhen.org.
The Pasadena Star-News explains the significance of tomorrow’s historic groundbreaking. The best quote:
“In short, a new era of transportation will begin out here, one that doesn’t really include the passenger car.”
If you’re still not convinced or somewhat lost, Metro’s Steve Hymon explains the Foothill Extension in the form of a Q&A. If your question is:
“Who will the Foothill Extension serve?”
… then Steve can answer that.
As we break ground on Phase 2A, two former mayors of Claremont are already turning their attention to the next phase:
I would ride – and will ride when it is available – because I want to avoid traffic, congestion and the stress of having to drive. I also want to relive experiences of riding transit in Boston, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, DC and other places where I have lived and visited in the USA and other countries. Here’s to the Gold Line getting to Claremont one of these days – please!
- Former Claremont Mayor Ellen Taylor
It’s about time! and hopefully it will soon be on its way to Claremont and the Ontario Airport!
- Former Claremont Mayor Karen M. Rosenthal
If you have a printer, you can print out a cheat sheet for tomorrow. If you have plenty of ink to spare, feel free to print as many as you’d like and pass it around town.
REMINDER: Tomorrow’s groundbreaking starts at 10:00 AM, with the ceremony beginning around 10:30. There will be no parking at Newcastle Park itself. Free parking is available on streets and at Santa Anita Church (a few streets west of the park on Colorado). City of Arcadia shuttles are going to be available to shuttle you back and forth. Click on the image above to find out more.
We’ll see you on Saturday. At 10 AM. At Newcastle Park in Arcadia. BE THERE.
Other than that, let’s keep looking forward to this Saturday’s historic groundbreaking! If you’re a Facebook addict whose schedule revolves around RSVPing to events, good news for you: click here for the Facebook event page.
Other than that, let’s keep looking forward to this Saturday’s historic groundbreaking (if you are counting, that is less than three days to go)! If you’re a Facebook addict whose schedule revolves around RSVPing to events, good news for you: click here for the Facebook event page.
We look forward to seeing you and other supporters there, as well as the folks who made it happen on the legislative level – like Congress members Judy Chu, David Dreier, Adam Schiff, and Grace Napolitano; State legislators Carol Liu, Mike Eng, Dr. Ed Hernandez, and Anthony Portantino; and local elected officials like Mike Antonovich and John Fasana.
(click image for more information)
PLEASE NOTE: there will be no parking at Newcastle Park itself. Free parking is available on streets and at Santa Anita Church (a few streets west of the park on Colorado). City of Arcadia shuttles are going to be available to shuttle you back and forth. Click on the image above to find out more.
With 11 days and counting to the big June 26 groundbreaking event, we took to the streets and spent a few afternoons at the Sierra Madre Villa station with the lifeblood of the Gold Line – the loyal riders that span from all across Los Angeles County. From the average businessman who enjoys using his “train time” to finish his work, to a sweet senior who sees the Gold Line as her tool to fight auto pollution, there was one common theme – there is building excitement for the next phase of the line.
If you had followed us over the last six months, we had taken time to talk about the ongoing process to select contractors to build out the first phase of the Foothill Extension. For the procurement process aficionados out there (aka people who like to see firms bid against each other for a services contract), things are getting very real as the Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority Board of Directors is 1.) set to award the winning firm with the contract to build out the Iconic Freeway Structure in early-June and 2.) have already narrowed the list of world-class teams to build out the Phase 2A Alignment down to three: Kiewit Pacific Co/Parsons Transportation Group, Shimmick Construction Company/URS Corporation, and Skanska USA Civil West District/Balfour Beatty USA.
A neat little factoid: the winning firms will be partnering with the Construction Authority to help finance the project through a P3 (aka Public-Private Partnership). These firms are preparing to invest their own resources – yes, money – in addition to their talented design and construction team resources to make the project a reality. This financing plan allows the Foothill Extension to be built much faster (four years in this case) – instead following a schedule based on needing to wait for all of the (Measure R) tax-payer money to be in the bank ahead of construction (the typical financing route for large-scale public improvement projects).
This is similar to the plan being proposed to President Obama and the U.S. Senate by Mayor Villaraigosa called “30/10.” In that case, Mayor Villaraigosa aims to finance all of the Measure R transit projects by way of a $40 billion loan from the federal government. According to the Mayor’s plan, the transit projects would be built in 10 years (rather than 30) and the Feds would be paid back as Measure R revenue comes in. That P3 is Public-Public Partnership.
And all of this is happening just in time for the historic groundbreaking ceremony taking place on June 26 at Newcastle Park in Arcadia (note to everyone:BE THERE. AT 10 AM).
The Citrus College owl and Bob Davis knew this day was coming.
UPDATE: CHANGE IN GROUNDBREAKING DATE – to better accommodate the schedules of many San Gabriel Valley residents, the Authority has moved the groundbreaking to June 26, 2010 (previously on June 19). So save this date. Remember it. Leave post-it notes everywhere, as far as the eye can see. Write it on both palms on your hands. If you’re that forgetful, maybe key it onto the side of your car.
It’s going to be that big.
In what has been the biggest day for the San Gabriel Valley since the Long Range Transportation Plan was approved last October, the Metro Board of Directors unanimously voted yesterday to approve the funding and master cooperative agreements that would officially allow the Authority to move forward with the groundbreaking and construction of the Gold Line Foothill Extension this June. The effort to officially become the first Measure R light rail project to break ground may have seemed like an eternity for some folks, but the Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority had been working with Metro staff through countless meetings in the past three months to hammer out these agreements. Great job to both sides.
The funding agreement sets in stone (or paper) the transfer of nearly $700 million from Metro (via Measure R tax revenue) to the Authority over a 10 year period towards the construction of Phase 2A (Pasadena to Azusa), and provides for an additional $110 million to be used in later years for Phase 2B (Azusa to Montclair). The master cooperative agreement basically sets the oversight rules between Metro and the Authority – since it is Metro that will be running the line after the Authority completes construction.
While there was a little bit of a tug of war between the two bodies to find the right level of review and approval over every aspect of the design and construction of the Extension, both sides were able to come to an agreement in the end that satisfied the needs of both agencies. Another significant aspect of this agreement is that, in addition to being applied to the Foothill Extension, it will serve as a framework for similar agreements in future transit projects throughout Los Angeles County.
Enough of this dry jibberish. What does this really mean?
The timely approval of these two agreements means that the Authority’s construction schedule… will be on schedule. There are currently six teams vying to win the design-build contract to begin construction of the Iconic Freeway Structure this summer, and four more teams turned in Statements of Qualifications earlier this week, looking to be pre-qualified to design, build and finance the Phase 2A Alignment work.
This also means that:
thousands of construction workers (one of the worse hit job sectors) will be put back to work
almost $1 billion in economic benefits will come to the region as a result of the construction
thousands of non-construction jobs will be created as a result of the Extension
in 2014, the cities of Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale, and Azusa will be connected via light-rail to Metro’s rapidly-expanding transit network
more San Gabriel Valley residents will be able to skip the 210 gridlock to and from work
The monthly Metro Board meeting will take place tomorrow at 9:30 AM at the Board Room of the Metro building, and up for votes will be the funding agreement and master cooperative agreement between the Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority and Metro. Approval of these agreements will allow the Authority to move forward with selecting a contractor to break ground and begin construction this summer on the Extension. Excited?
We’ll be covering the meeting on Twitter @iwillride tomorrow, so be sure to follow.
More details below from Foothill Extension CEO Habib Balian’s most recent email:
Negotiations between the Construction Authority and Metro have successfully completed and produced recommended Funding and Master Cooperative Agreement term sheets for consideration by the Metro board tomorrow. The final draft eliminates redundancies and inefficiencies proposed in previous versions; while at the same time providing Metro with assurances that the design and quality of construction meets their design criteria. The final draft also provides significant coordination and information sharing between agencies. I have attached a one-page summary for your review.
These negotiations concluded amicably due to the hard work of many, including Metro Board members from throughout the region and their staff, Metro staff and counsel, and Ara Najarian, whose leadership and involvement was integral to this success.
I am optimistic that the term sheets will be approved in this final form at tomorrow’s Metro Board meeting. If you are available to attend, the meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. at Metro Headquarters (One Gateway Plaza, 3rd Floor Board Room).
The timing of this approval is critical. Just yesterday, the Authority received Statements of Qualifications from four highly qualified design-build teams interested in participating in a public-private partnership with the Authority to finance and build the Phase 2A Alignment. The teams include (in alpha order): Atkinson Contractors/Granite Construction Co./Clark Construction Group; Kiewit Pacific Co./Parsons Transportation Group; Shimmick Construction Co./URS Corp.; and Skanska USA/Balfour Beatty USA. And early next month, the Authority will be receiving proposals for design and construction of the Iconic Freeway Structure from the previously-qualified teams.
When approved tomorrow, the Authority will be on schedule for a June 19 ground breaking.
San Gabriel Valley resident, Foothill Extension fan #1, and rail aficionado Bob Davis was kind enough to give an entertaining layman’s rundown of the Foothill Extension (he also gave a history lesson last year) in the video below.
Apparently the station billboard unveilings are happening in reverse-alphabetical order, as Arcadia and Azusa are the two remaining cities to get their station billboard unveiling celebrations (it went like this: Monrovia then Irwindale then Duarte).
Well, the City of Arcadia will be happy tomorrow as they finally get their turn to celebrate the future arrival of the Gold Line Foothill Extension. The event takes place tomorrow (February 10) morning – from 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM (unveiling at 8:30) at Arcadia’s future station site at North First Ave and Santa Clara St, Arcadia, CA 91006. Arcadia’s residents, elected officials, and business leaders will be there, along with the Authority, to celebrate.
See you via light rail at the Santa Anita racetracks in a few years!
Yeah – we’re counting down the days. 
