The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) awarded a $485.9 million contract to Foothill Transit Constructors, a Kiewit Parsons joint venture, to design and construct the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension from Pasadena to Azusa, Calif.

The project, which will take approximately four years to complete and is estimated to create nearly 7,000 jobs and $1 billion of economic output during construction, includes final design and construction of 11.5 miles of track, six stations, dozens of crossings, utilities and systems.

Kiewit and Parsons have teamed up nearly 20 times in the last decade to complete design-build projects and have designed and built more than 60 major infrastructure projects in the last 40 years. Both are award-winning companies, providing world-renowned experience in successful completion of light rail transit projects.

This contract award keeps the first Measure R rail project to go to construction on schedule for a 2015 delivery.