A D V E R T I S E M E N T
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
ADVERTISEMENTS
TriMet will bypass the traditional low-bid contracting system for its estimated $135 million Willamette River transit bridge and hire a construction contractor based mainly on experience and scheduling.
TriMet’s board unanimously agreed Nov. 25 to exempt the bridge from traditional public contracting competitive bidding. The agency will fund the bridge as a “design/build” project, something TriMet officials think will bring it in on a tight budget and an even tighter schedule.
“The prime reason is the schedule,” said Neil McFarlane, TriMet’s executive director for capital projects. “We have very limited ‘fish windows’ when we are allowed time for construction in the Willamette River.”
TriMet’s 1,720-foot-long suspension bridge planned just south of the Marquam Bridge is part of a 7.3-mile, estimated $1.4 billion light-rail line to be constructed beginning in 2011 between Fifth and Sixth avenues near Portland State University and downtown Milwaukie. It will connect to the east side of the river a couple blocks south of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry building.
The bridge will carry only light-rail trains, pedestrians, bicyclists and buses. When service begins in 2015, the Portland-to-Milwaukie line will include 10 new stations and two park and ride facilities with 2,000 parking spaces. The new light-rail line is expected to carry an estimated 27,400 daily trips by 2030.
A citizens committee, the Willamette River Bridge Advisory Committee, selected early this year a cable suspension-style structure.
TriMet board members had to approve a plan to exempt the project from the traditional low-bid system, in which the agency was required to hire the contractor with the lowest responsive bid. The exemption means the agency can seek proposals from qualified contractors and then negotiate a final price – with a hard-and-fast stipulation that the cost stay within the agency’s budget.
According to TriMet’s contracting plans, work on the bridge should start in July 2011. The contractor will have four months to do in-water construction because of federal and state regulations protecting the river’s fish. If the schedule slips just a little bit, McFarlane said, it could set the entire light-rail line project back months, or a year.
McFarlane said the agency also was soliciting ideas from potential contractors on the proposed project. Those ideas and suggestions could be incorporated into a final contract, he said.
“There are many firms both locally and nationally that have already expressed a certain level of interest in the project,” McFarlane said.
Only a bunch of socialist like Tri-Met would come up with this plan. They'll probably hire Americans at a living wage with a no bid contract. All for transit and weenies in spandex on their teeny bicycles. If it aint a bridge for manly pickup trucks, it aint a bridge worth building.
I am a patriotic American who pays taxes. I want more lanes for my pickup truck! I support the Personal Freedom and feeling of brawny power my V8 gives me.
No socialist transit!
No weenies on bicycles!
More lanes for manly men!
Let Freedom Ride!
Palin in 2012!
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 06:08 AM
"TriMet will bypass the traditional low-bid"
Merry Christmas - Walsh Construction!!!
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 07:40 AM
What is the surest sign that Trimet is over funded and out of control spending, they don't bid work using existing public bidding laws! I guess that they saw how well it worked out for the military in Iraq. Does anyone believe Trimet has the staff capability to hold their contractor to anything, let alone a fixed price? If the Trimet Board feels this is the best method, how about a full disclosure public record of estimated costs, "hard" fixed prices and final costs after all change orders are processed with a small group of outside experts to review it. On past projects some of the best staff work done has been to hide huge cost overruns and to muddle up the accounting to prevent real review.
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 08:09 AM
We don't have enough money for the Sellwood bridge and expanding capasity and reducing congestion on the I-5 bridge.
But we seem to have unlimited funds for all light rail boondoggles.
Operating light rail is unsustainable by way of the users.
Tri-Met only collects 20% of operating cost from the users and none of the capital construction ( including this bridge).
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 08:18 AM
Here again, is the dirt of politics of this entire area, and the lib bike crowd just gets off on it, because they come first with what they think is their right under the way things are done here.
I want a bid process..period!
There should be hell to pay for this vote, and it better be soon.
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 08:52 AM
Bridges, along with nuclear reactors and huge hydro dams are a few things I would agree shouldn't be built by the lowest bidder. Hire someone who knows what they are doing and will use the proper materials instead of someone with a pickup truck, wheelbarrow and a little recycled lumber to do the job.
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 09:13 AM
"Tri-Met only collects 20% of operating cost from the users"
Users pay the full cost of Tri-met operations. You mean fares don't cover the operating costs. But transit is fully paid for through a tax on payrolls.
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 09:49 AM
Just so the facts are correct: TriMet has driven cost on its new bridge to the basement, whereas ODOT/Multco has driven the cost of a replacement at Sellwood through the roof. The planned structures nearly are equal in span and width, but TriMet's must carry twice the load, and costs a third of Sellwood.
I have followed both projects closely. If one is looking for fraud look at ODOT and Multco. TriMet is clean as a whistle.
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 10:44 AM
Eliminate low bid, pay below living wages, just so we can save a fish????
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 10:48 AM
Eliminate low bid, pay below living wages, just so we can save a fish????
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 10:49 AM
What do you really expect? Portland is run by a bunch of rich liberals that arent concerned with an increase in tax to pay for their beautifully constructed bridges... all the while the poor people in the city are succumbing to gentrification and the taxes are getting OUT OF HAND. Trimet is illegal. It is a privately owned company that has an unlimited lease on Portland to create and reconstruct the public transportation system as they see fit, and NO OTHER TRANSPORTATION COMPANY is allowed to operate in the city. Its a MONOPOLY. ILLEGAL. And then the tax payers pay for Trimet to make a profit.
If Portland keeps up with their plan to get rid of poor people and keep redesigning the city for rich people, and all the while allowing no-bid contractors that are in the pockets of the companies that own and operate the city to do whatever they want with the taxpayers money... the city will fail. Poor people will leave. Rich people will only live there. And then who will do the work that rich people wont do?? Who will maintain the city??
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 11:06 AM
The last time TriMet went around conventional bidding processes, TriMet entered into a contract with Colorado Railcar to design a self-propelled diesel railcar for use on WES.
When Colorado Railcar designed the specifications, TriMet held a "bid" but one in which (surprise!) Colorado Railcar was the only qualified bidder. And the only bidder. And, (surprise!) Colorado Railcar won.
The cars were supposed to cost $3.5M for the three powered vehicles, and slightly less (about $2.5M for the trailer car.) For a grand total of about $14 million.
In the end, TriMet had to bail out and take control of Colorado Railcar, sending TriMet employees to run day-to-day operations in Fort Collins, and spent an additional $48.5M in over-budgeted costs mostly related to ensuring that Colorado Railcar would get these four cars mostly completed and shipped. The opening of WES was delayed four months because the cars weren't ready.
All because TriMet failed to listen to common sense in that Colorado Railcar was not a suitable vendor.
All because, TriMet evaded standard bidding processes.
Today: TriMet had to purchase two 1950s era Budd RDCs from the Alaska Railroad Corporation, for $150,000 TOTAL, as "backup vehicles". Nevermind, that when TriMet was planning WES that no fewer than SEVEN Budd RDCs were available right here in northwestern Oregon - three formerly owned by ODOT and could have been easily refurbished; two owned by the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad and could have been easily refurbished; and two more owned by a local railroad historical society and were built as trailer coaches that could have been used with the other five units with cabs (or rebuilt with cabs). For a lot less than $60 million.
But TriMet said that those cars were not suitable, and went with the more expensive, unproven design...because TriMet knows better than the public.
Today: TriMet blew $48.5 million on a project, that was originally pegged at $80M, carries 50% less ridership than was anticipated in the first year, and provides very little mobility. As a result of "saving face" TriMet is cutting numerous bus trips and has eliminated four bus lines. Because of TriMet's insatiable appetite for expensive rail projects, basic transit is being eliminated.
It's time that the Legislature put a stop to the madness that is TriMet. Abolish the Board of Directors who are filled simply by filling political favors to the Governor, and demand a directly elected Board. Fred Hansen needs LESS - not MORE - authority. And this project deserves a thorough and complete vetting at every level, not a streamlined approach guaranteed to result in more bus service cuts to favor a few contractor buddies.
By the way: Why can't the Hawthorne Bridge be used -- it was rebuilt to accomodate light rail? And why do we need Milwaukie MAX anyways?
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 11:25 AM
How typical of Tri Met arrogance! I suppose this bridge will be as much a success as the WES train. Tri Met has plenty of money for executive bonus payments, WES antique trains, abusive labor practices, but nothing for sufficient bus service and being in compliance with legal requirements for contract bidding. Excuses for this improper bidding are not enough for Tri Met to "get away" with this. What we need is for the governor to wake up, replace both the Tri Met board and Mr. Hansen with responsible people who care about Tri Met's service to the public.
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 11:28 AM
Design-build can work well, but sometimes doesn't. ODOT's recent experience on Hwy 20 was a disaster and cost them (us) an additional 20 million. The project may have cost that much if an adequate design had been done in the first place, but no one will ever know.
In any case, design build does not mean that there isn't any competition for the work, only that the competition is judged under different rules. If the agency (Tri-met) does an adequate and competent job, then design build may well work. If tri-met doesn't do a good job or lacks the experience/expertise/skill, then tax payers will be at risk of overruns or a bad project or both. Design-build should not be done by amateurs.
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 11:59 AM
I have to say that Erik is on point with the foundation of a good case against Trimet.
The bottom line in this decision Trimet has made is that they are not competent to decide how the taxpayers money should be spent. A Measure needs to be drafted to turn over sole control of Portland's transit system to the city. Then the interest will be in the city and public workers, instead of a contractor that is leeching money out of residents.
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 02:31 PM
Meanwhile...apparently TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen is taking four days of TriMet paid time (and a "personal" travel day on Sunday...boohoo) to travel to Copenhagen to espouse the values of TriMet to the climate change summit.
The last time I checked TriMet time means working for TriMet...not taking another exotic vacation to Europe (and just a couple months ago it was to Australia...and last winter during the TriMet Shutdown of 2008 he was absolutely nowhere to be found).
I can't even trust the guy to wake up in the morning and it shows when I can barely trust TriMet to get me to work. Clearly, TriMet is not capable of getting "exemptions" from standard processes when it can't even follow standard processes.
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 07:09 PM
If budgeting is so tight, and housing is down and jobs are down, why can’t this new bridge project get moth balled until the economy improves? Oh, yeah, that’s right, this new bridge is somehow a part of economic improvement. It is funded by money that is taken from one group and that money is then redistributed to another group that will build a transit system that will help citizens, fewer in number, travel from residences, more costly, to jobs, that are part of this new fangled jobless recovery. This all sounds just weird and progressive and oh so Portland.
The fish argument is nonsense. Get out there now, put the pilings in for a type of bridge that can easily be added to so that perhaps parking spaces won’t have to be 2000 in number. Never mind letting one group of citizens decide what everyone else is going to pay for it. Come up with a half dozen or so different designs that have complete costs attached to them and put it to a vote. Maybe hold a competition in the way the Fremont Bridge Box Girder System was designed. Then hire contractors will proven skills that aren’t going to ‘Belmont East’ the project . Have them post bonds and commit to the work and completion. Then build only what can be afforded now with additions as funding is available.
Do any of you other commentators know of a web site where we could gamble on the cost over run amount? I am thinking that at least one or two citizens might be able to get something positive out of all of this. Ah, forget it, trimet would probably rig that too.
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 09:06 PM
"The fish argument is nonsense."
Tell that to NOAA and the NMFS, who establish the regulations that TriMet must follow.
(email verified)
Tue, Dec 08, 2009 at 11:01 AM
"Bridges, along with nuclear reactors and huge hydro dams are a few things I would agree shouldn't be built by the lowest bidder. Hire someone who knows what they are doing and will use the proper materials instead of someone with a pickup truck, wheelbarrow and a little recycled lumber to do the job."
The above is a stupid rationalization for Tri-Met's goof. The low bid process does not excuse sloppy work, or not allow inspections. It means the public gets the best deal for IT"S money.
Tri-Met is arrogant, unproductive, and another layer of government in a state that excels in waste, fraud, and agency incompetence.
(email verified)
Tue, Dec 08, 2009 at 11:49 AM
So that all the whiners and critics have all the information, the Portland Streetcar will also cross the river on the new bridge. I hope that the MAX trains that now break down on an almost daily basis for hours at a time will stay out of the way of the Streetcar. Lest we forget, dear reader, during the winter storm last winter, the Streetcar was the ONLY running public transportation in Portland.
(email verified)
Tue, Dec 08, 2009 at 07:20 PM
Oops, the cat is out of the bag! "TriMet’s 1,720-foot-long suspension bridge planned just south of the Marquam Bridge is part of a 7.3-mile, estimated $1.4 billion light-rail line to be constructed beginning in 2011 between Fifth and Sixth avenues near Portland State University and downtown Milwaukie" What happened to the Park Avenue extension? It will NEVER happen. Eliminate the Park Avenue terminus and then there will be enough money to build a bridge. Downtown Milwaukie is again in trouble... stay tuned, next you'll hear that they will need to add ANOTHER station in downtown Milwaukie - exactly the original plan that was pushed by TriMet since 2002. My, isn't politics wonderful?
(email verified)
Tue, Dec 08, 2009 at 07:45 PM
Jim Lee writes:
"TriMet has driven cost on its new bridge to the basement, whereas ODOT/Multco has driven the cost of a replacement at Sellwood through the roof. The planned structures nearly are equal in span and width, but TriMet's must carry twice the load, and costs a third of Sellwood."
It's true the cost estimate of the light rail bridge is much lower than the cost of the new Sellwood Bridge. The estimates include very different things. A third of the cost of the Sellwood Bridge is for a new interchange where the bridge connects with Hwy. 43. The light rail cost estimate is just for the bridge. Also, the new Sellwood Bridge will be built in phases so that a bridge remains open during construction. The light rail bridge will not need to keep 30,000 vehicles a day pass through the construction zone.
(email verified)
Wed, Dec 09, 2009 at 09:26 AM
Find a paper
Enter a street name
or a 5 digit zip code
Browse archive
The Clackamas Review
News feed
Facebook
Digg
Del.icio.us
Newsvine
Stumbleupon
Reddit
Re: TriMet exempts new Willamette River bridge from low-bid process
maybe you could top the thing with a bunch of your fancy wind turbines and solar panels!
"stumptard"
(email verified)
Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 01:54 AM