A joint venture led by Sylmar-based Tutor Perini Corp. has been awarded a $1.4 billion contract by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to construct the second phase of the Purple Line subway through Beverly Hills and into Century City.
The Foothill-Gold Line Construction Authority also announced a new timetable for work on the Gold Line extension through the eastern San Gabriel Valley to Montclair. Completion of the line has been pushed back two years to early 2026 and the construction budget for that segment was also revised upward by $118 million to more than $1.3 billion.
For the Purple Line subway project, the team of Tutor Perini and O&G Industries of Torrington, Conn., submitted a bid that was $500 million lower than two other competing teams.
“Today’s contract award to Tutor Perini brings us one step closer to fulfilling our promise to bring fast, reliable, high-capacity subway service to the Westside,” John Fasana, Metro’s chairman and a Duarte city councilman, said in a Jan. 26 statement. “We now have the funding in place and the contractor on board to expedite delivery of this high-priority, regionally beneficial transit project for Los Angeles County.”
Early last month, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced $1.5 billion in federal grants and loans to Metro to build section two of the project, which extends west from the Wilshire-La Cienega station in Beverly Hills to the intersection of Avenue of the Stars and Constellation Boulevard in Century City. The budget for this phase has been set at $2.4 billion.
The selection of Tutor Perini came despite the tortured history of Wilshire Boulevard subway construction between the transportation agency and predecessor contractor Tutor Saliba Corp. Tutor Saliba sued the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1995 seeking recovery of $16 million in costs associated with change orders for construction of the portion of the Wilshire subway known now as the Red Line. MTA countersued, claiming Tutor Saliba inflated costs. A jury awarded $63 million to the MTA, but that was overturned by an appeals court in 2005. The authority dropped its remaining claims against Tutor Saliba five years later. Tutor Saliba subsequently merged with Perini Corp.
On the Gold Line extension, Foothill-Gold Line Construction Authority Chief Executive Habib Balian said in an emailed statement that extra unanticipated work associated with relocating of freight and Metrolink lines was the main factor in pushing back the completion date. The upward budget revision of $118 million was due to the longer work period and increases in minimum and prevailing pay to workers after recent enactment of the state’s wage hike.
Balian also said the authority expects to pick the prime contractor for the $1.3 billion project next year. The extension will include six stations between Glendora and Montclair in San Bernardino County.
