Agency Seeks Deep-Pockets Contractor Willing to Fast-Track Gold Line Extension Project
By Dan Abendschein and Ryan Carter, Staff Writer
September 29, 2009
MONROVIA - Wanted: Private contractor willing to put up $100 million to $150 million to expedite construction of the first segment of the 24-mile Gold Line extension to Claremont.
Nearly 200 people, many of them representing engineering firms, turned out Tuesday at a Gold Line Foothill Extension Authority event where officials explained how companies can bid for work related to the extension project.
Authority officials had previously set a completion date of 2013 for the first phase of the rail line, but the agency lacks funding to ensure completion by that date. It is seeking to hire a contractor that can afford to finance the project up front, then receive reimbursement over time, officials announced.
The downside would be that interest on the financing could ultimately cost the agency $30 million, Extension Authority CEO Habib Balian said.
"But we think it's worth it, considering the price of labor and steel and other materials in this economy," said Balian. "We can save a lot of money and get the project going sooner."
The authority has a commitment to receive up to $875 million from Measure R funds, but the money will likely trickle in as annual allotments through 2019.
Thomas M. Wilson, a vice president at Pasadena-based Parsons Engineering, who attended the meeting, said it was ironic that the extension project is ready to go but does not have sufficient funding. Usually, he said, it's the other way around.
Still, said Wilson, Parsons is interested in bidding on Gold Line projects.
"We've been watching the project for years," he said. "They are really ready to go....We'd be interested in doing the engineering for the project."
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board has not yet reached an agreement about when each Measure R project will receive funding - that issue will be discussed at its October board meeting.
An initial staff recommendation calls for the first phase of the Gold Line to be funded on a schedule that would push the completion date back to 2017.
Ara Najarian,cq head of the MTA board, said he doesn't expect the Gold Line to be a top priority for the board for the next few years.
"There are still officials at the MTA who want to kill the Gold Line project," said Najarian. "I've been working hard to quell that uprising."
The largest single contract related to the extension project is pegged at $320 million and will involve most of the work on the rail line. Authority officials are hoping to find a contractor willing to commit $100 million to $150 million in financing toward that contract.
The authority is also set to award a $30-million contract for bridge work. The agency is asking for an up-front commitment of $5 million from the contractor eventually selected to do that project.
Officials hope to break ground on the first phase of the extension by June 2010. The first phase would extend the Gold Line from Pasadena to the Azusa/Glendora border.
Gold Line officials also said Tuesday they anticipate receiving federal funding for the second phase of the line, which would take it to Claremont. Officials hope to complete that phase by 2017.
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