The Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority (Construction Authority) on September 12 announced a milestone for the 12.3-mile, six-station rail extension from Glendora to Montclair in Southern California, as four shortlisted design-build teams vying for the Alignment Design-Build Contract submitted proposals.

The four teams deemed most qualified and shortlisted to compete for the more than $700-million design-build contract are (in alphabetical order): AECOM | Stacy and Witbeck JV; Herzog Rados Lane, a Joint Venture; Kiewit-Parsons, a Joint Venture; and the San Gabriel Valley Transit Partners (STP), a Joint Venture of Fluor and Ames.

The four teams submitted proposals in response to tens of thousands of pages of engineering and project information provided to each team over the last several months.

The roughly $1.5-billion project will add new Metro Gold Line stations in the cities of Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, Pomona, Claremont and Montclair. It is funded by Measures M and R in Los Angeles County, Measure I in San Bernardino County and the State of California’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, an SB1 program that receives proceeds from the Cap and Trade auction and the recent gas tax increase

The proposals received include each team’s technical approach to completing the design and construction of the project, their management method, proposed key personnel, financial bid and more. Over the next several weeks, six committees of transportation and industry experts, attorneys, financial professionals and partner agencies will review different elements of the proposals and then come together to provide their overall ratings and recommendations.

 "The Construction Authority will once again use a ‘best value’ approach to evaluating the proposals," said Construction Authority CEO, Habib F. Balian in a news release. "Best value allows us to judge the team’s technical merits and approach, as well as their bid price, and judge both critical evaluation factors as approximately equally important; ensuring we are able to hire a highly qualified team at the right price.”

Procurement for the Alignment Design-Build Contract began in November 2017, when a Request for Qualifications was issued to the industry. The four shortlisted teams were selected out of a total of seven teams that submitted Statements of Qualification.

 “These are four highly qualified teams with significant experience designing and building projects like this one,” said Balian. “It will come down to their unique approach to completing this project, who they propose to lead critical roles on their team and the experience of those individuals, and of course their all-inclusive bid price to design and construct the project that will ultimately decide who will win the work.”

The Construction Authority says the Alignment Contract is expected to be awarded in the next few months, with major construction expected to begin in early 2020 and consist of two construction phrases. First, crews will rebuild and relocate the freight and Metrolink systems that currently operate in the middle of the rail corridor. Once the relocation is done, crews will build the light rail system.

The overall project is scheduled to finish in 2026. Officials say that during construction, the Glendora to Montclair project will generate nearly 17,000 jobs, more than $2.6 billion in economic output, more than $1 billion in labor income and nearly $40 million in tax revenues.

Last month, Long Beach, CA-based W.A. Rasic Construction completed its work to relocate and protect utilities that cross the railroad right of way from Glendora to Montclair.

The Glendora to Montclair section is an extension of the Metro Gold Line light rail system that currently runs between East Los Angeles and Azusa.