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).

Construction will be completed in December 2014.

Click here to view the LABJ List.