LOS ANGELES : Red Line Has No New Cost Overruns, Official Says
Despite some unforeseen problems--and a few unexpected windfalls--the Metro Red Line subway project is not accumulating more cost overruns, Los Angeles County Transportation Commission Executive Director Neil Peterson told the City Council on Monday.
Peterson was summoned before the council to update the city’s liability on the construction project. The city agreed in the early 1980s to pay half of the cost overruns on the subway, to a maximum of $125 million on the first segment and $90.5 million on the second.
Poor soil conditions, bad designs and unrealistic schedules added $200 million to the $1.25-billion cost of the first segment--between Union Station and MacArthur Park--by 1990, when the LACTC took over construction from the Southern California Rapid Transit District. The cost has not changed since, Peterson said, and is unlikely to increase before service starts next year.
No overruns are foreseen on the second segment, up to Hollywood, although construction is less than 10% complete, Peterson said.
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