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Gateway 'T' stop to close for 2 years

Port Authority move will cut costs during work on extension

Saturday, February 23, 2008
By Joe Grata, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Figuring that energy, steel and cement prices will continue to escalate significantly, the Port Authority is cutting more corners on its $435 million light-rail extension to the North Shore.

Some T riders will have to sacrifice, too, by walking a few extra blocks or transferring to a shuttle bus at the Wood Street station.

Authority officials yesterday disclosed that the Gateway Center station will be closed for two years starting in mid-2009 to make it easier -- and cheaper -- to build a new, nearby Gateway subway station under Stanwix Street, in front of Fifth Avenue Place.

Bids for the block-long concrete shell of the $25 million-plus station are to be opened March 26. If the board receives an acceptable low bid, construction would get under way about four months later.

Instead of phasing work to maintain service at the existing Gateway station, the contractor will be allowed to close it along with a track loop that trolleys travel to change from inbound to outbound service, thereby saving time, labor and -- the authority hopes -- several million dollars.

The Gateway station is to be closed at some point in April to June next year and remain closed until mid-2011, when the 1.2-mile North Shore Connector is finished and open for business.

While trolley service is terminated at the Wood Street Station, the authority will operate shuttle buses to and from the Gateway Center area for riders who choose not to walk the extra four or five blocks.

The change represents the second cost-cutting move for a new Gateway Center station. More than a year ago, station designers eliminated a public plaza and modified other architectural features to cut costs. However, a glass-enclosed subway entrance, partly funded by $1 million from The Heinz Endowments and $100,000 from The Pittsburgh Foundation, remains in the plans.

"We're doing what we can to mitigate the impact of escalating construction costs without compromising safety or the integrity of the project," Port Authority Chief Executive Officer Steve Bland said. "I'd be living in a fool's paradise if I said there's no problem [about containing costs]."

Operations Manager Winston Simmonds, who's overseeing the project, said the authority is looking at other cost-cutting measures, such as using concrete instead of steel poles to support the overhead power system and entertaining value-engineering suggestions from contractors.

"Costs are a major concern for our design group, construction managers and the board," Mr. Bland said. "If we can't keep the costs down, the question becomes, 'How do we fund it?'"

The Port Authority has a $435 million funding agreement with the Federal Transit Administration that requires it to build the system it proposed, including twin tunnels now being bored under the Allegheny River and two North Shore stations.

"You just can't lop off a quarter-mile of track or one of the North Shore stations," Mr. Bland said. "We're walking a fine line."

In June 2006, before the authority made a commitment with the FTA, it raised cost estimates by 10 percent, to the current $435 million estimate. The amount includes about $22 million for contingencies, including cost escalation and unanticipated costs.

The new Gateway Center station contract will be the second of 16 necessary to build the North Shore Connector. The first one, for $156.5 million, was awarded to North Shore Constructors, a joint venture of West Mifflin-based Trumbull Corp. and San Francisco-based Obayashi Corp., covering boring the twin tunnels and the majority of the civil work.

In project-related business yesterday, Port Authority officials reported that the special tunnel boring machine has completed the first 165 feet of tunnel heading toward the river from the 55-foot-deep "launch pit" at the northwest corner of PNC Park.