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San Francisco’s massive $8.25 billion City center expansion project chose AECOM’s Portal Connectors team to provide program and works management services. The Dallas-based firm announced its award for the project, also known as Portal, in an Aug. 21 press release. The value of the contract was not disclosed.
The 2.2 miles, two stations The megaproject will expand Caltrain service from its current terminus at Fourth and King streets to the Salesforce Transit Center, and will also host future California High Speed Rail service, according to the project’s website. Once completed, the extension will serve as a key regional rail connection with a combined average daily ridership of 90,000 people, connecting to 11 transit systems in the Bay Area and Southern California.
The Portal is the second phase of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority’s $12 billion Transbay Transportation and Housing Program; the first phase replaced the old Transbay terminal in downtown San Francisco with the multimodal Salesforce Transit Center.
In May, the project received $3.4 billion commitment of the federal government to realize the city’s vision of building the Salesforce Transit Center into the “Grand Central Station of the West,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The rail extension is expected to be built mostly below grade using cut and cover methods and tunneling below Townsend and Second Street. The project will equip the downtown basement levels into a new train station and build a new subway station at Fourth and Townsend streets.
The main elements of the project include structures for emergency exit and ventilation along the tunnel alignment, the main track through the tunnel and stations, as well as the track at the level of the link with the track existing Caltrain rail systems and site work at Caltrain rail yards.
Portal Connectors will be responsible for obtaining funding from the Federal Transit Administration, finalizing the procurement plan by 2024, activating collaborative delivery models, designing and building the tunnel stations, and integrating The Portal with existing rail systems and operations , according to the statement.
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2025, according to the project’s website, with the start of service expected in 2032. It has received environmental clearance and is 30 percent design.
