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Award: Rail connection of the tunnel
Value: 711.7 million dollars
Location: North Bergen and Secaucus, New Jersey
Customer: Gateway Development Commission
The Gateway Development Commission touted a joint venture to move the Hudson Tunnel project closer to full construction during an agency board meeting Monday.
The commission awarded a Skanska Creamer Sanzari NJSA JV a $711.7 million contract for the New Jersey surface alignment project. The award is the seventh of 10 construction packages for the Hudson Tunnel project to enter construction or complete, according to the GDC.
The design-build package will build about 7,540 feet of new infrastructure between Secaucus, New Jersey, and the tunnel’s future portal in North Bergen. The work will create the connection between the new Hudson River Tunnel and the existing Northeast Corridor rail line in New Jersey.
“We are firing on all cylinders at our construction sites in New York and New Jersey,” GDC CEO Tom Prendergast said in the press release. “The Skanska Creamer Sanzari NJSA JV team has a proven track record and the experience to get the job done, and we look forward to working with them to deliver this critical section of the Hudson Tunnel project.”
The project includes about 4,170 feet of retaining walls and 3,150 feet of viaduct structures, according to the release. Crews will also build two bridges and relocate utilities, said Jim Starace, head of program delivery for GDC.
“Each of these has engineering and logistical challenges, and the construction of these bridges will be carefully planned to minimize impacts to traffic and existing train service,” Starace said during Monday’s agency meeting. “The project will be constructed adjacent to active tracks, which will require coordination with Amtrak and New Jersey Transit to ensure appropriate rail safety precautions.”
The Skanska Creamer Sanzari joint venture team won the contract after a two-step procurement process that began with six companies responding, said Anthony Gardner, GDC’s deputy director of procurement administration. Four teams were shortlisted and two submitted final proposals.
“In addition to awarding the contract, we are seeking authorization to issue a notice to proceed so that construction can begin as soon as possible,” Gardner said.
Progress of the Hudson Tunnel project
The seventh award came about a month later GDC leveraged a joint venture Traylor, Walsh and Skanska on the sixth construction package of the Hudson Tunnel project.
This portion covers approximately 1.5 miles of twin tunnel under the Hudson River, the final segment of tunnel under the river. The same joint venture team recently won a separate award for Phase II of the Segona Avinguda subway project also in New York City.
Meanwhile, the Tonnelle Avenue Bridge recently reached completion and opened to traffic, Starace said. On the Palisades Tunnel project, one of seven ongoing construction packages, crews are preparing two TBMs for assembly, he added.
In Manhattan, the tunnel project is about 25 percent to 30 percent complete, with slurry wall construction nearing completion and soil stabilization activity underway, Starace said. Elsewhere, the Hudson Yards concrete shell project is about 75 percent complete, he said.
