Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority

The Foothill Gold Line light-rail extension from Glendora to Montclair will begin construction in October 2017 and take two years longer to complete according to a new schedule.

The Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority (construction authority) Board of Directors approved an updated workplan and schedule for the 12.3-mile extension at its January 25 meeting. The updated schedule is based on detailed constructability reviews completed late last year on the project’s draft advanced conceptual engineering (ACE) documents.

“We have a more detailed understanding of this project and how we will build it,” explained Habib F. Balian, CEO of the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority. “It is really two major projects in one – the freight and Metrolink relocation/reconstruction will have to be completed first, followed by construction of the light-rail system. And to reduce risk for the future design-build contractor, the first year of the project will be used to relocate utilities and conduct pre-construction activities.”

The previously approved schedule, approved in 2015, had estimated completion in 2023; however, since then the construction authority refined the project scope through the ACE process and also put in place Master Cooperative Agreements (MCAs) with each of the project’s corridor cities, Metrolink and other third parties that provide more details on the project and how it will be built. The agency integrated this new information, including new constraints agreed to through the MCAs (such as constraints for grade-crossing construction and Metrolink station and track relocation and requirements to build several temporary rail detours), resulting in two years of construction being added to the project schedule.

“This is an important step in our project development process and a natural part of the progression of a major infrastructure project like the Foothill Gold Line as it advances through planning and design,” added Balian. “Our estimators and scheduling experts were given much more detailed information about the project and construction constraints and created a 7,000-activity construction phasing plan. This is the best information we have to work with until a design-build contractor is hired and provides their plan for the work.”

Based on this new schedule, the construction authority Board also approved an updated financial plan for the agency that incorporated a new project estimate for the Glendora to Montclair extension. The latest estimate confirmed that the construction costs in the previously approved 2015 estimate for the project remain accurate; however, costs associated with the additional two years of work, along with new prevailing and minimum wage increases that will take effect during construction, add about $118 million to the overall budget estimate for the project. The latest project estimate totals $1.374 billion for the six-station Glendora to Montclair extension (including Los Angeles and San Bernardino County construction).