Negotiations with the remaining bidder for Seattles monorail project will continue until agreement is reached on design and costs. Work was to begin this year on the 14-mile line for a 2009 opening, but the Seattle Monorail Project board has not set a deadline to end talks with Cascadia Monorail, a 29-firm consortium led by Washington Group International and Fluor Corp.
"The board specifically did not set a deadline because one of the things we have to safeguard against is the competitive advantage of [Cascadia]," says SMP spokesperson Natasha Jones. "We didnt want to be in that kind of negative bargaining situation."