Best Airport/Transit: WMATA Station Platform Rehabilitation Contract 4
Experience paid off for the $285-million project to repair and replace critical platform components at five outdoor Metrorail stations. The construction team had been involved in the program’s three previous contracts. The new effort would require the expertise and close coordination of multiple trade specialties, from site/civil and bridges to building systems and communications. To make the most of each day of the planned 96-day revenue-service shutdown, the owner and project team carefully planned the process for carrying out activities along the 11-mile route. Logistical challenges for supporting improvement activities at six aerial structures, which were also undergoing construction under a separate program, required the team to make each work area self-sufficient and contained. To ensure the bridges would be finished and reopened on schedule, the team developed more than one plan for finishing work at each location. That provided flexibility for material delivery and storage as well as the sequencing of work activities.
Seeing an opportunity to complete additional scope during the revenue-shutdown period, WMATA added 22 change orders totaling $23 million, but with very little schedule extension. One additional assignment required full replacement of decks and nearly 130 additional bearings at an aerial structure, a process that went from design and permitting to material procurement and complete installation in just six months. The team was also called on to complete an unforeseen scope gap in another contractor’s work—installing a fiber optic connection between a new ductbank and a station platform. The 17-month project finished at budget and on schedule.