Los Angeles: Light Rail to extend From Glendora to Montclair

In Southern California, the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority (Construction Authority) reached a major milestone on the 12.3-mile, six-station Foothill Gold Line light rail extension from Glendora to Montclair; funded by Measures M and R in Los Angeles County, Measure I in San Bernardino County and the State of California’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, an SB1 program that receives proceeds from the Cap and Trade auction and the recent gas tax increase. The four shortlisted design-build teams vying for the Glendora to Montclair Alignment Design-Build Contract submitted proposals in response to tens of thousands of pages of engineering and project information provided to each team over the last several months.

The proposals received today include each team’s technical approach to completing the design and construction of the project, their management method, proposed key personnel, financial bid and more. Over the next several weeks, six committees of transportation and industry experts, attorneys, financial professionals and partner agencies will review different elements of the proposals and then come together to provide their overall ratings and recommendations.

“The Construction Authority will once again use a ‘best value’ approach to evaluating the proposals,” explained Construction Authority CEO, Habib F. Balian. “Best value allows us to judge the team’s technical merits and approach, as well as their bid price, and judge both critical evaluation factors as approximately equally important; ensuring we are able to hire a highly qualified team at the right price.”

Procurement for the Alignment Design-Build Contract began in November 2017, when a Request for Qualifications was issued to the industry. Seven teams submitted Statements of Qualification, and the following four teams were deemed most qualified and shortlisted to compete for the work (in alphabetical order): AECOM | Stacy and Witbeck JV; Herzog Rados Lane, a Joint Venture; Kiewit-Parsons, a Joint Venture; and the San Gabriel Valley Transit Partners (STP), a Joint Venture of Fluor and Ames.

“These are four highly qualified teams with significant experience designing and building projects like this one,” added Balian. “It will come down to their unique approach to completing this project, who they propose to lead critical roles on their team and the experience of those individuals, and of course their all-inclusive bid price to design and construct the project that will ultimately decide who will win the work.”

The Alignment Contract is expected to be awarded in the coming months and be responsible for all elements of the 12.3-mile light rail extension, with the exception of parking. Major construction is expected to begin in early 2020 and consist of two construction phrases. First, they will rebuild and relocate the freight and Metrolink systems that currently operate in the middle of the rail corridor. Once the relocation is done, crews will build the light rail system. Completion is expected in 2026. It is expected that during construction alone, the Glendora to Montclair project will generate nearly 17,000 jobs, more than $2.6 billion in economic output, more than $1 billion in labor income and nearly $40 million in tax revenues.