The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority board has approved a team of J.F. Shea Construction, Inc., Skanska USA Civil Northeast Inc., and Schiavone Construction Co., Inc. for a $1.145-billion contract to build the 1.5-mile extension of the No. 7 line subway to Manhattan’s west side.

Mysore Nagaraja, president of the MTA’s Capital Construction Co., says the sole bidder will be officially awarded the job in mid-November. The team has a 57-month construction schedule to bore a 21.5-ft-dia tunnel through mostly hard rock some 130 feet deep. Within 9 months from the start of construction, the MTA may add $450-million to the job for a station shell, adds Nagaraja. That depends on whether funding becomes available in that time.

The total cost of extending the subway line to reach the Jacob Javits Center from Times Square is $2.1 billion.