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In an effort to create more options for commuters, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board is expanding its trolley system. Clark Construction Group, LLC was recently awarded an $83 million contract to build an underground station and tunnel at San Diego State University (SDSU).
Looping under the SDSUcampus, the 4,000-foot long project with a 50,000-gross-square-foot trolley station will feature exposed architectural concrete with a sand blast finish. Commuters will enter from the main plaza, known as Aztec Green, which is the mezzanine level of the structure, and continue to the track level via elevators, stairs and escalators. Extensive landscaping also is planned around the station. Bus facilities will be incorporated into SDSU’s Aztec Walk Plaza on the top level of the station.
Clark’s contract is part of a 5.9-mile, $431 million Mission Valley East extension that connects the trolley’s existing Blue Line in Mission Valley to the Orange Line at the Grossmont Center station in La Mesa. Currently, the Blue Line ends at the Mission San Diego station just east of Interstate 15.
In addition to the new station at SDSU, the Transit Development Board is planning to build three other stations. Expected to facilitate nearly 11,000 passengers a day, these four stations will increase use by an estimated 2.5 million riders a year.
The team includes Washington Infrastructure Services, Inc. of San Diego as construction manager; URS-BRW of San Diego, civil and tunnel engineer; Zimmer Gunsul Frasca of Portland, Ore., architect; Inca Engineers of Los Angeles, structural engineer; William J. Lang & Associates of Burbank, Calif., MEP engineer and fire/life safety engineer; Linvedt McColl & Associates of San Diego, utilities engineer; Atkinson Construction of Lakeside, Colo., a subsidiary of Clark Construction, tunnel contractor; and Hatch Mott MacDonald of Pleasanton, Calif., New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) engineers. This project is jointly managed by Clark’s Irvine, Calif. office and Clark’s Heavy Construction Division in Bethesda, Md. and is set for completion in mid-2004.
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