Gov’s subway plan a capital blow, city says

A QUEENS CONSTRUCTION firm that edged out 13 other bidders for the lucrative contract to fix the Battery Tunnel submitted the lowest bid — then charged an extra $68 million to do the job.

Richer yet: Tully Construction Co., a repeat contributor to the campaigns of Gov. Cuomo, is on target to receive a $1.4 million bonus for getting the work finished early.

“This is par for the course,” said Gene Russianoff, staff lawyer of the Straphangers Campaign. “They do this all the time. They are constantly going over budget.”

All told, Tully submitted 20 amended work orders that hiked the cost of the four-year project to repair the tunnel. Its winning bid was $282.5 million.

Transit officials said the added costs were tied to new initiatives such as the cashless tolling system, the replacement of the Morris St. pedestrian bridge at the lower Manhattan entrance to the tunnel, and speeding up the completion of the total overhaul by nine months.

Critics say officials should have included those key elements of the project when it originally sought contractors.

“You wonder why they don’t factor it in in the beginning,” Russianoff said. “And if they do, why are they so inaccurate?”

The 2.1-mile stretch that connects Brooklyn and Manhattan was flooded by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012.

The storm dumped 60 million gallons of water into the tunnel, closing it down for three weeks.

Two years later, Tully Construction beat out its 13 competitors for the comprehensive repair project.

The firm was no stranger to the Cuomo administration.

Peter Tully, who runs the firm and other related subsidiaries, has given more than $221,000 in campaign cash to Cuomo.

A spokesman for the governor denied the campaign contributions had anything to do with the firm’s selection.

“This contract was handled by the MTA and followed a rigorous multistep review process undertaken by career professional engineers and public servants within MTA Bridges and Tunnels,” said the spokesman, Peter Ajemian.

Transit officials at the time said the firm was chosen because its was the lowest bid. The other three lowest bids were Picone/Schiavone at $288.6 million; CCA Civil/Plaza at $314.8 million, and Judlau at $326.8 million.

The state contract does not appear to include any penalty for blowing past the original budget.

Tully Construction has at least seven other contracts with the state Department of Transportation totaling $468 million, records show. The majority of those deals were inked in 2014 and 2015.

As for the tunnel repairs, last summer Cuomo ordered the MTA to finish all bridge and tunnel construction projects as fast as possible to relieve some of the congestion expected due to planned closures at Penn Station dubbed the “Summer of Hell.”

At the Battery Tunnel, work now appears to be set for completion by March 31, according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request. That’s nine months sooner than initially expected.

The contract includes a $14,000-a-day incentive for up to 100 days for finishing early, records show. The bonus can’t exceed $1.4 million. Transit officials said the extra money is “under evaluation” because the project is not yet finished.

On Wednesday, a transit spokesman said the expected early completion and cashless tolling will ease traffic, lower carbon emissions and improve safety.

“The MTA will also realize approximately $650 million in savings over 20 years from costs associated with tollbooth and toll plaza maintenance,” added spokesman Christopher McKniff.

A representative for Tully Construction declined to comment, citing a provision in the contract barring discussing the project with the media. PICKING UP the hefty tab for the subways’ five-year capital plan would blow a hole in the city’s capital budget, Mayor de Blasio’s office said Wednesday.

Gov. Cuomo’s proposed state budget calls on the city to pick up the section of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s capital plan that goes to NYC Transit, which runs the subways. When the last capital plan was approved in 2015, the subway section amounted to about $16 billion — way more than the $2.5 billion the city contributed to the plan.

“Forcing us to relieve the state of the MTA’s $16 billion capital budget would decimate services New Yorkers rely on,” de Blasio spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein said. “Say goodbye to 3-K (pre-K for 3-year-olds), road and bridge repairs and neighborhood policing.”

MTA Chairman Joe Lhota is set to testify at City Council budget oversight hearings Thursday. While much of the discussion surrounding MTA funding has focused on the governor’s request for $400 million from the city for a subway rescue plan, the shift of the capital budget would be a much more significant hit to the city.

City Hall pointed to past expenses for popular programs in an effort to show what might’ve faced cuts had it been picking up the subway’s $16 billion capital bill.

That list included $321.4 million for the NYC Ferry system; $275 million revamping NYPD facilities to train for snipers; an average of $96 million for every new school built; $1.3 billion to construct a new tunnel to supply water to the city; $23 million to build the Steinway St. bridge over the Grand Central Parkway in Queens, and $35 million for an average library branch.

The $16 billion contribution to the MTA’s five-year plan would be bigger than the city’s current 10-year capital budget for rehabilitating or reconstructing schools, which is $12.4 billion, and its 10-year budget for building new schools, which is $7.6 billion.

The city’s full 10-year capital plan for all agencies is $95.85 billion.

The MTA argued the city was deflecting from Subway Action Plan costs.

“As I’m sure City Hall knows, tomorrow’s hearing is about the mayor’s budget proposal, which includes absolutely no funding for the Subway Action Plan and the badly needed repairs it provides. We need a partner to fix the subways, and we look forward to discussing that with the Council,” MTA spokesman Jon Weinstein said.