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Award: Austin Light Rail Facility
Value: Total project cost between $6.8 billion and $7.1 billion
Location: Austin, Texas
Customer: Austin Transit Partnership
Austin, Texas has chosen builders for a key milestone in a multibillion-dollar infrastructure project.
The Austin Transit Partnership has selected a JV led by Kiewit Building Group, a subsidiary of Omaha, Neb.-based builder Kiewit, and Dallas-based contractor Austin Commercial for the system’s upcoming operations and maintenance facility, according to an April 15 announcement.
ATP, a local government corporation managing the construction of Austin’s first light rail system, selected the JV after a selection process of about a year, which it deemed faster than comparable infrastructure projects. This compressed time period could be an advantage given the risk that often comes with large megaprojects.
Austin’s light rail project is a massive undertaking with a price tag to match: A January 2025 ATP report lists the total capital cost of the program between 6.8 billion and 7.1 billion dollars. The estimate took into account the flow of proceeds from Proposition Aa tax initiative dedicated to the system, and assumed the support of federal grants.
Once complete, the system will contain 15 stations along a nearly 10-mile alignment with all-electric trains, according to the announcement, and is designed with future expansion in mind. The operations and maintenance facility will play a role as a storage, service and dispatch area for these light rail vehicles.
For the operations facility, the project team will also have approximately 10 subcontractors for the design phase, half of which are located in the Austin area. After board approval, design, field investigation, utilities and permitting work began immediately, according to the announcement.
In the wider project, the ATP selected LINC Austin JV — consisting of AECOM, Parsons, STV, Turner & Townsend, Ardmore Roderick and CAS Consulting — as the delivery partner for Phase 1 in December 2024.
In February, the The ATP awarded a contract worth 60 million dollars to Austin Rail Constructors, a JV of builders Stacy Witbeck and Sundt Construction, for preconstruction work on the light rail project.
