Dive Brief:

• The Milwaukee Department of Public Works has announced the award of a $60 million contract for the initial phase of its new streetcar system to Kiewit Infrastructure Co., making it possible to start construction as early as this fall, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal.
• Kiewit will build the inaugural downtown loop segment of the streetcar system, an extension to the city's lakefront and an operations and maintenance complex, with service openings slated for 2018 and 2019.
• Aside from Kiewit's experience with urban rail logistics, budgets and schedules, city officials told the Business Journal that the contractor also displayed the "tremendous understanding" necessary to meet the city's various hiring goals. Milwaukee has set a disadvantaged business enterprise participation target of 21%, and enrollees in the city's Residents Preference Program must work 40% of the total labor hours on the project.

Dive Insight:

Milwaukee officials said Kiewit's rail resume, particularly as it pertains to those projects completed for the Chicago Rail Transit Authority, was one of the major factors in the decision to award it the streetcar project over six other competitors. The company won one of those Chicago rail projects in December, a $13 million improvement to the city's Green Line.

The award of that Chicago project came at about the same time that the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority fired the joint venture of White-Skanska-Kiewit from its position as lead contractor on Boston's Green Line light rail extension. Delays and cost overruns plagued the project, which has now been scaled down as a condition of it moving forward. The MBTA largely blamed the project's contract type, which they said was at the root of the cost overruns, and have decided on an alternate delivery method moving forward. However, a subsequent report by a third-party consultant determined that much of the blame for the project's failures was due to MBTA mismanagement.

The past year has provided a bumpy road for other planned light rail projects as well. The $1.86 billion Southwest light rail extension, planned for easier access between Minneapolis and its suburbs, is in jeopardy before it even gets started, as state lawmakers refuse to contribute the money necessary to guarantee federal matching funds. The Metropolitan Council recently announced $18 million in extra costs for the project and warned that inaction on the part of legislators would force the price tag even higher.

Maryland's $5.6 billion Purple Line project plans are also up in the air as a federal judge ruled earlier this month that the rail system warranted another time-consuming ridership analysis, as requested in a lawsuit filed by Chevy Chase, MD, residents and Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail in an attempt to block the project. The Purple Line is one of the biggest public-private partnerships ever planned in the U.S. and is the second to use private financing. It is because of the unique nature of the project that Purple Line officials said any delays could jeopardize its future.