[IMAGE]S-F-Central-Subway-rendering-2.gif[/IMAGE]The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which operates the Municipal Railway (Muni), approved the tunneling contract for the $1.6B Central Subway project, a light rail extension.

The contract — the largest construction package for the project — was awarded to Barnard Impregilo Healy, as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder in the amount of $233,584,015.00.

Last week, the FTA awarded the agency $20 million in New Starts funds for the 2011 Fiscal Year to keep the project moving forward. For the second year in a row the Project has been included with a specific recommendation for funding in the President’s budget. The Central Subway has received $95.9 million in federal funding to date.

The tunnel contract will allow for the development of approximately 8,240 feet of concrete guideway tunnels and procure two tunnel boring machines to be used for actual construction.

The project has made significant progress over the past few years having completed the first construction contract to relocate underground utilities along the alignment, being halfway finished on the second contract for the Union Square area, and being 95 percent complete in the final designs for the tunnel and stations.

“The progress the SFMTA has made over the past few years proves that the Central Subway Project is shovel-ready and we’re on track to receive the Full Funding Grant Agreement from the FTA by year’s end,” said Executive Director/CEO Nathaniel P. Ford, Sr. “This tunneling contract is a major part of opening a dynamic, new era in rapid transit for the people of San Francisco, and especially for those traveling along the congested Stockton corridor.”

The Central Subway is a $1.57 billion Phase Two of the T Third Line which will extend light rail service with a surface station at 4th and Brannan streets providing a transfer point for Caltrain customers, then travel north up 4th Street before descending underground at the 1-80 Freeway. There will be subway stations at the Moscone Center, Union Square connecting to Powell Street BART and Muni, and in Chinatown.

The extended T Third Line is expected to carry 65,000 passengers daily by the year 2030.  The project will be in revenue service by 2018.