It must be June alright, because another winner was just announced this morning after edging out numerous world-class competitors over the past several months. No – not the Lakers (that was last night). The Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority has been looking at several world-class contracting firms over the past several months to build out the Iconic Freeway Structure portion of the Foothill Extension. Previously, we had mentioned that the winning firm would privately finance the design and construction of the Foothill Extension THEMSELVES – instead of typically using public money upfront. This creative scheme by the Authority was to allow the Extension to arrive by 2014 instead of 2017, because instead of waiting for funds from Measure R sales tax revenue to flow in (which takes a VERY LONG TIME when you’re asking for hundreds of millions of dollars), the private contractor can front the cost and then be reimbursed when public is finally available. However, this has changed somewhat.
Because the winning team came in with a budget that was much lower than expected, the Authority is now able to finance this portion of the project on their own without using the scenario above where it’s initially privately financed. Got that? Let’s get to the winner already.
CONGRATULATIONS TO SKANSKA USA CIVIL WEST CALIFORNIA DISTRICT INC. AND AECOM TECHNICAL SERVICES, INC.
Taxpayers can thank this winning team for coming through with a plan that reduced the cost of this portion of the Extension significantly. Part of this good news can be attributed to the Authority working hard to find ways to reduce costs over the last 8 months. They brought in experts from related fields, consulted their own staff’s past experience in similar projects, used data from a recent geotechnical study – the whole shebang – to bring down the costs.
PS: this just an announcement of the winning team. The contract will be finalized once Metro and the Authority sign the funding and cooperative agreements.
Other than that, let’s keep looking forward to next week’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 for the groundbreaking.
We’ll see you on June 26 – a giant leap for the Gold Line as it marches towards its 2014 homecoming in the San Gabriel Valley.
(click image for more information)
PLEASE NOTE: if you’ve been around Newcastle Park, you’re pretty well aware of the lack of parking around the area. You probably even imagined what the parking situation might look like if a large crowd gathered there for a historical event like, say for instance, the Foothill Extension groundbreaking (I know I have). Fortunately, the City of Arcadia will be providing shuttle service throughout major parking structures around Newcastle Park. Click on the image above to find out more.