High-Speed Rail Authority to Host Official High-Speed Rail Groundbreaking Ceremony on January 6
Sacramento, Calif. – The California High-Speed Rail Authority will join government, community, transportation, business and labor leaders on Tuesday, January 6, 2015 to commemorate the start of sustained construction on the nation’s first high-speed rail system at a ceremonial groundbreaking in Fresno.
Bid On High Speed Rail Construction Through Kings County Below Estimate
The California High-Speed Rail Authority has identified Dragados/Flatiron/Shimmick as the apparent best value team for the design-build contract for Construction Package 2-3 (CP 2-3), the next 65 mile segment south of Fresno through Kings County. While estimates put the cost of this segment at $1.5 billion to $2 billion, the bid came in at $1.2 billion, the “apparent best value.”
Jeff Morales, chief executive of CHSRA credited the low prices to strong competition.Tutor Petrini who is building the first 29 mile section north of Fresno came in at $1.7 billion.The Spanish-led Dragados team includes Colorado-based Flatiron Construction(who built the West 198 Expressway) and Oakland-based Shimmick Construction. The Kings Co segment through farmland will cost around $19 million per mile compared to first segment that will cost about $34 million per mile – in part because it begins in urban Fresno. Still the Kings County segment has been the most controversial with strong opposition and litigation from farmers and the County. To date they have not stopped the statewide project.