S.F. Central Subway tab to grow by $55 million
San Francisco’s Central Subway project, now delayed until 2021, is chewing through its last contingency funds and likely will need an additional $55 million to cross the finish line.
The new cost estimate came up during a presentation to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors on Tuesday. The board approved a 730day extension of its construction contract with Tutor Perini Corp., with a payment of more than $31 million — or more than $40,000 a day, Board Director Amanda Eaken noted — to resolve the company’s damages claims through Sept. 3.
But Tutor Perini has submitted additional claims that the city still has to evaluate, and labor costs will pile up over the next two years. Project manager Nadeem Tahir estimated that those items combined could add another $70 million to the project’s $1.6 billion tab, at a time when SFMTA’s contingency funds have dwindled to $15 million.
SFMTA may use surplus funds from its budget to fill the gap. Or it might borrow flexible funding from other capital projects that are delayed. It could also issue revenue bonds to pay for claims, which would add the cost of debt service to the subway’s operating budget, and limit the agency’s ability to use bonds for other projects.
“This was very complex and difficult,” Tahir said, emphasizing that work crews had to use complicated tunneling methods to dig beneath Chinatown, one of the most congested and densely populated areas of the city.
That explanation didn’t satisfy SFMTA Board Director Steve Heminger, who pointed to another cause of delay: a plaza added to the forthcoming Chinatown Rose Pak Station, which required engineers to redesign an elevator to go up another level.
Tahir acknowledged that the reconfiguration of the elevator was among many challenges to hit the project, a 1.7mile rail to connect Chinatown with Muni’s T line, which serves a growing Asian American community in the southeast neighborhoods of the city. Eventually, it will connect Caltrain to downtown, lure more tourists to Chinatown and Union Square, and carry sports fans to Warriors games in the Chase Center.
Dogged by political battles and construction delays since its inception, the Central Subway was supposed to running by now. When San Francisco awarded the contract, it aimed to have construction, which began in 2012, substantially completed by February 2018. That date was later postponed to June 2018 and last week pushed to June 2020 — with a nine to 12month systems and vehicle testing period.
Delays and change orders aren’t unusual for extensive, complicated projects, Tahir said. But the problems associated with Central Subway have been particularly painful. Although community leaders in Chinatown — including Pak, who died in 2016 — once crusaded for federal dollars and support from City Hall to move the project forward, neighborhood merchants on Stockton Street and Grant Avenue now say the prolonged street work has driven away their customers.
The owner of a Shell gas station at Fourth and Bryant streets also spoke to the board, saying businesses in SoMa are suffering from the Central Subway construction. He said that traffic reroutes associated with the construction work are confusing motorists and prompting some to make lefthand turns from righthand turn lanes, which increases the chance of collisions.
Still, Heminger applauded Tahir, who took over project management in July, for being honest about the subway’s timeline and cost. Until recently, transportation officials still insisted the rail line would open in December.
“I do believe the recommendation before us today is the responsible course of action,” Heminger said of the contract modifications the board unanimously approved Tuesday. “I view the action today as ... coming clean on what the finish line for this project is really gonna look like.”