Amtrak has selected a joint venture between Kiewit and JF Shea Construction Inc. to build his planned Frederick Douglass Tunnel in Baltimore.
The contract, which the passenger rail carrier announced on Feb. 6, is valued at more than $1 billion, according to an Amtrak spokesman. It is the second of three major contracts in the railroad’s $6 billion program to replace the 150-year-old tunnel.
The two-tube, 2-mile-long structure will replace what had been known as the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel. The replacement is planned for a site just south of Baltimore Penn Station on the Northeast Corridor. It would serve electrified Amtrak and Maryland Area Rail Commuter (MARC) trains.
The project has been renamed after the famous Maryland native abolitionist. According to Amtrak, the new tunnel is needed to improve passenger rail service through Baltimore.
The 1.4-mile brick and masonry B&P tunnel has experienced excessive water infiltration and its sunken floor requires frequent maintenance. The existing tunnel also has tight curves that require a 30 mph speed limit, causing bottlenecks, Amtrak says.
A spokesman for the contractors did not immediately respond to inquiries from ENR.
Luigi Rosa, Amtrak’s assistant vice president, said in a statement that the joint venture “brings extensive experience with tunnel projects in North America.” The contractors have previously teamed up on projects including the $500 million Dig Indy Tunnel System sewage tunnel project in Indianapolis and the ongoing $6.9 million rapid transit system expansion from the area of the Bay of California below San Jose.
In addition to the construction of the tunnel, the plan includes the replacement of five bridges and the construction of new railway infrastructure. The work is subject to a project labor agreement, and officials have estimated there will be 20,000 construction jobs.
Last year, Amtrak selected a Clark Construction joint venture with Stacy and Witbeck for another of the program’s construction contracts, covering work on the tunnel’s southern approach and a new West Baltimore MARC station. Officials say they expect to award another construction contract, covering tunnel retrofitting, sometime in 2025 or 2026. Amtrak also hopes to soon select a project delivery partner to coordinate execution of the project’s risk program. construction manager
Map courtesy of AmtrakThe full program is scheduled to end in 2035.
Funding for the work is being split between the Federal Railroad Administration, Amtrak and Maryland. In November, President Joe Biden announced $16.4 billion from the Jobs and Infrastructure Investment Act for Northeast Corridor projects, including up to $4.7 billion for the Frederick Douglass Tunnel program.
