HONOLULU — The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation has awarded Tutor Perini Corporation a $1.66 billion contract to design and build the next phase of the Honolulu Rail Transit Project.
The contract signing is expected in mid-September.
The City Center Guideway and Stations contract includes the design and construction of six stations and approximately three miles of elevated rail guideway east of the Middle Street Transit Center Station to the Civic Center Station, which will be located east of the intersection of Halekauwila and South Streets. Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in the second half of 2025 and to last through 2030.
“This is another major milestone for our rail project,” said Lori Kahikina, HART’s executive director and CEO. “This is the largest single contract of the entire project and lays the groundwork for the completion of the project through downtown Honolulu. We look forward to working with Tutor Perini to make this possible.”
Los Angeles-based Tutor Perini Corporation is a leading civil, structural and specialty engineering firm.
According to HART, the company has “earned a reputation for completing large, complex projects on time and on budget while adhering to strict quality control measures.”
“Tutor Perini is proud and excited to be part of this transformational project in Honolulu,” said Tutor Perini Chairman and CEO Ronald Tutor. “We look forward to partnering with HART to bring this project to a successful conclusion.”
The award of the CCGS contract will trigger the release of the next $250 million in federal funds for HART under the amended Full Funding Grant Agreement signed on February 2, 2024. The original FFGA, signed in 2012, provided a $1.55 billion grant for the Honolulu rail project. HART has previously received approximately $931 million under that grant.
Tutor Perini has previously been contracted for work projects including the California High-Speed Rail; Harry Reid International Airport Terminal 3; the Purple Line Extension Project (Sections 1 and 2); the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center; the BART San Francisco Airport Extension; and the Palace Tower of the Caesars Palace and Hotels and Casinos.
Before merging with Perini Corporation in 2008, Tutor-Saliba Corporation was criticized for allegedly bidding too low to win contracts and then incurring significant cost overruns. According to a review by the Bay Citizen, 11 major Bay Area projects the construction company completed between 2000 and 2012 cost $765 million more than expected, 40 percent more than the original bids.
In 2018, Tutor-Perini was ordered by the San Francisco Mass Transit Authority to remove more than five kilometers of track it had laid for the Central Subway because the company had used cheaper and less durable materials than agreed to in the contract.
Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. Reach him at [email protected].
