Two Design-Build Teams Guarantee Costs for MBTA Green Line Extension Project
MBTA says the public pricing opening is scheduled for Nov. 17
Two of the three design-build teams shortlisted to build the long-awaited Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Green Line Extension project have certified that their proposals will meet or be below the MBTA’s $1.3 billion cost limit.
With the public pricing opening scheduled for Nov. 17, MBTA officials declined to disclose which of the three joint ventures (GLX Constructors, Green Line Partners and Walsh Barletta Granite) could not meet the Oct. 23 deadline to guarantee costs.
The $2.2-billion light rail project includes two new branches from Lechmere Station in East Cambridge to Union Square in Somerville and to College Avenue in Medford. The project also calls for seven new stations, including the relocated Lechmere Station.
“Certification of two of the short-listed Design-Build teams is a significant achievement toward extending the Green Line into Somerville and Medford,” MBTA General Manager Luis Manuel Ramírez said in a statement. “Certification of the project’s affordability ensures the project proposals are competitive, and that it can be built out with the established budget, and brings the vision of Green Line service one major step forward for our customers.”
The MBTA’s news release also said that the final request for proposal also included a base scope of work and “additive options” that the team should only included in its project scope if they can guarantee that that the options can be built within the project’s schedule and cost limit.
Additive Options include platform canopies, additional elevators at select stations, public art, additional community connection to the community path, a community path extension between East Somerville and Lechmere Stations and an enhanced vehicle maintenance facility in Somerville.
