Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor Project on Track
Plans to issue the first Request for Proposals for Design-Build (DB) contracts for the HHCTCP mega-project for the City and County of Honolulu are well under way. Prequalification documents are expected to be issued this year and Technical and Price Proposals are to be requested in early 2009. The City plans to use a competitive sealed proposal procurement process. Initially either one or two DB contracts will be solicited for a 7 mile stretch of elevated twin track guideway extending from East Kapolei eastward to Leeward Community College. This work will also include the first of four long span crossings of Interstate H1. This will be closely followed by another DB RFP for the Maintenance Facility. The contracts are part of the First Project which comprises 19.5 miles of guideway from East Kapolei to the Ala Moana Center in downtown Honolulu (Fig. 32). Currently it is anticipated that three subsequent Design-Bid-Build (DBB) contracts will be issued to complete the First Project. Future proposed extensions include service to Waikiki and the University of Hawaii on the east end, to Kapolei on the west end and service to the airport. Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB Americas, Inc) is the GEC providing planning and engineering services for the Preliminary Engineering and Environmental Impact Statement (PE/EIS) phase of the project. InfraConsult is the City’s Program Management Support Consultant. Preliminary engineering indicates that optimal typical span length will be 150ft with erection using span by span assembly and overhead launching gantries. The project will also require a number of longer spans where balanced cantilever construction can be expected with longest spans in range of 300ft. An evaluation of possible cross sections from engineering, aesthetic and cost perspectives indicates that the trapezoidal box section is best suited Fig. 33. However, the DB contractor may be given the flexibility of proposing an alternate configuration subject to compliance with project criteria. Subsurface conditions in Hawaii vary considerably along the alignment. It is anticipated that 8ft diameter drilled shafts up to 125ft in length will provide the best foundation option for most of the alignment. For the most part, the alignment follows existing State and County ROW to limit property acquisition and the majority of the guideway will be constructed in the median of existing roadways. Maintenance and protection of traffic and utility relocations will be significant elements of the work. It is proposed that, for schedule reasons, the initial DB work will also include utility relocations while later contracts may have advance utility work performed under separate utility relocation contracts. The First Project includes 19 stations. Current thinking is that the stations will be constructed under a separate design-bid-build procurement process to allow maximum participation by local firms. Ground breaking is expected in late 2009 and completion of the First project is scheduled for 2018. |
