JV wins New York tunnelling project

A US$ 659 million railway tunnelling contract has been won by a joint venture comprised of Granite Construction Northeast, Traylor Bros. and Frontier-Kemper Constructors.

The contract was awarded by New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Capital Construction company (MTACC) and involves building the Queens bored tunnels and structures for Long Island Rail Road's (LIRR) East Side Access project in New York, US.

In a statement Granite Construction said its 42.5% share of the contract will be booked into the third quarter of 2009.

When completed, the East Side Access project will bring Long Island Rail Road service, the busiest commuter railroad in the country, into New York's Grand Central terminal. This will provide a direct route between Long Island and eastern Queens to Manhattan's eastside. Currently the LIRR runs into Penn Station on the west side of the city.

According to Granite Construction the Queens Bored Tunnels and Structures contract is the last major link in the tunnels from Queens to Grand Central station.

The work includes the excavation and the precast concrete lining of four bored tunnels beneath an active rail storage yard.

Totalling around 3 km in length and 6.7 m in diameter, the tunnels will be excavated using two tunnel boring machines, each weighing more than 450 tonnes.

The contract also includes the excavation of three emergency exit structures, underpinning of existing bridges and the demolition of various rail yard buildings.

Work on the project will begin immediately and is estimated to take 42 months to complete.