THE Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) has shortlisted three joint ventures to undertake the estimated $US 2bn tunnel and trackwork contract for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (Bart) Silicon Valley Phase II (BSVII) extension project.

BSVII will extend Bart infrastructure from the existing temporary terminus adjacent to the Berryessa/North San José Bart station into central San Jose, terminating in Santa Clara.

The project is the largest public infrastructure programme ever constructed in Santa Clara County, California. The BSV programme also includes the $US 2.3bn 16km Phase 1 extension from Warm Springs/South Fermont to the Milpitas and Berryessa transit centres, which opened in June 2020.

VTA has applied for $US 1.735bn in federal funds through the Federal Transit Administration’s Expedited Project Delivery Pilot Funding Program (EPD), which will complete the funding plan to build the Phase II project.

The BSVII programme will be delivered as four separate projects, comprising contract package 1 (systems), contract package 2 (tunnel/trackwork), contract package 3 (Newhall Yard and Santa Clara station), and contract package 4 (stations).

Bart issued a request for qualification (RFQ) for contract package 2 in December 2020. After the submissions were evaluated by both a technical team and an executive team, three groups were shortlisted:

  • Bart Silicon Valley Phase II Tunnel Partners (B2TP), a joint venture of Acciona Construction Corp USA (Acciona), FCC Construcción (FCC) and The Lane Construction Corporation (Lane), supported by Hatch Associate Consultants (Hatch)
  • Bay Valley Connect, a joint venture between BouyguesTP’s United States subsidiary Civil & Building North America, Vinci Construction and Barnard Construction, supported by Parsons, and
  • Kiewit Shea Traylor Joint Venture, a joint venture between Kiewit Infrastructure West, JF Shea Construction and Traylor Brothers, supported by Kiewit Engineering Group and Arup.

The successful bidder will undertake the advance design and construction of an 8km, 14.6m-high tunnel, along with station connections, ventilation and emergency egress facilities and three underground station substructures.

In January 2019, VTA awarded a joint venture of Mott McDonald and PGH Wong a contract worth up to $US 125m to provide general engineering services for the BSVII project.

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