The Southern Nevada Water Authority’s largest single contract to date just got a little pricier.
A starter tunnel for a third raw water intake at Lake Mead flooded three times in six months last year, prompting its contractor, Vegas Tunnel Constructors LLC —a joint venture of S.A. Healy Co., Lombard, Ill., and Impreglio S.p.A., Sesto San Giovanni, Italy—to drill in a drier direction. Costs for the design-build project, awarded in early 2008, have swollen to $526.6 million, up 15% from its original $447-million price tag. Who will pay for the added costs is uncertain.