After nine years on the job, Skanska has completed the underground Regional Connector Transit project in downtown Los Angeles.
The Skanska-led joint venture with Traylor Bros won the design-build contract from LA Metro in April 2014
The $1.8bn project saw the contractors excavate 5,795 feet (1,766m) of twin, 21-foot-diameter tunnels using a Herrenknecht Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), and lay 1.9 miles of new track to carry light rail trains between Union Station and the busy 7th Street/Metro Center Station in LA’s Financial District.
They built three underground stations, each 400 feet in length and varying in depth from 40 to 112 feet.
The Connector will shorten commute times by as much as 20 minutes. It will serve 88,000 metro riders and is expected to attract 17,000 new ones.
The project included one of the largest caverns ever excavated in Los Angeles, which required technology and materials the county had never used before.
A sequential segmented array system monitored the potential ground loss to provide real-time feedback to the TBM operator.
Building information modeling (BIM) helped the team review obstructions with station structures, appendages, foundations, and utilities.
“The completion of the Regional Connector is a big accomplishment for the Skanska team,” said Mike Aparicio, executive vice president Skanska USA Civil’s West Coast operations. “While the project consisted of many technically complicated components, the project team was able to work through the challenges in a timely manner.”
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