Amtrak selected the Clark Construction/Stacy and Witbeck Joint Venture for the first of three main construction packages for its $6-billion Frederick Douglass Tunnel Program in Baltimore, officials announced Sept. 11. The construction-manager at-risk contract, with an estimated value of more than $1 billion, covers the planned two-mile tunnel’s southern approach.
The program calls for construction of a tunnel with two tubes, each with interior diameters of 26 ft, to carry Amtrak and Maryland Area Rail Commuter (MARC) trains between Baltimore Pennsylvania Station and the West Baltimore MARC station on the Northeast Corridor rail line. It is intended to replace the 150-year-old B&P Tunnel. Amtrak says the 1.4 miles tunnel is deteriorating and lacks modern safety systems.