Transit
Frontier-Kemper-Tutor Perini JV Gets $1.2B Contract for NYC Side of Hudson Tunnel
This portion of the $16-billion Hudson Tunnel Project will link the under-river portion of the tunnel to Hudson Yards.
Image courtesy of Gateway Development Commission
The Gateway Development Commission voted on Feb. 3 to approve a $1.2-billion design-build contract with Frontier-Kemper-Tutor Perini JV for the Manhattan end of the $16-billion Hudson River rail tunnel between northern New Jersey and New York City. The commission’s board also voted to issue a notice to proceed to the contractor.
The scope of the contractor’s work will cover about 700 ft of the two 30-ft-dia tunnels from the Manhattan bulkhead to Hudson Yards. The contractor will also be responsible for constructing an access shaft at 12th Avenue, which will later be converted into a permanent ventilation structure, and removing obstruction that could slow or damage the tunnel boring machines (TBMs). Hamed Nejad, acting chief technical officer at Gateway, said during the meeting that the JV developed a plan to use a combination of sequential excavation method and a protective digging shield that will save time on the schedule.
“This is the most exciting and challenging contract that we’re going to have,” he said.
Frontier-Kemper-Tutor Perini JV beat out two other shortlisted teams of Halmar International LLC with FCC Construction Inc. and Skanska USA Civil Northeast Inc., Traylor Bros. Inc. and Walsh Construction Co. II LLC for the contract. A spokesperson for the winning contractors could not immediately comment.
Work on this portion of the project is scheduled for completion in 2029.
The two-tube, 2.4-mile-long tunnel is being built in three sections under three different contracts. The commission previously awarded a $465.6-million contract to Schiavone Dragados Lane JV for the New Jersey end. The commission is planning to soon issue a request for proposals to three shortlisted teams for the center portion.
Work is also proceeding on other contracts for non-tunnel portions of the project. In New Jersey, Nejad said crews completed the west side of a bridge that will carry traffic over the future tunnel approach. Crews working at Hudson Yards on the New York side completed installing the last of 337 secant piles and are excavating an area for a cut-and-cover section of the tunnel. And in the river, workers are in the process of drilling 400 primary columns and 350 secondary columns within a cofferdam as part of efforts to stabilize the riverbed before tunnel boring.
The team also ordered two TBMs for the project, and Nejad said they are on schedule to arrive next January and March.
New CEO
The Feb. 3 meeting was the commission’s first since its board voted last month to appoint Thomas Prendergast as Gateway’s new CEO after the organization’s prior chief executive, Kris Kolluri, joined NJ Transit as its president and CEO.
Prendergast is the former president, chair and CEO of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and former president of the Long Island Rail Road, as well as former CEO of the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority. He most recently worked at AECOM in New York and New Jersey.
“The Manhattan Tunnel Project is one of the most technically complex pieces of the [Hudson Tunnel Project],” Prendergast said in a statement. “Building anything underground in Manhattan requires careful planning and expert execution, as I know from overseeing multiple subway expansion projects. I look forward to working together with the Frontier-Kemper-Tutor Perini team, as well as GDC’s partners on Manhattan’s West Side, to complete this critical component of this vital infrastructure project.”
