Granite's joint venture team gets MTA contract

Granite Construction's joint venture team gets $659 million contract from New York's MTA

• On 7:13 pm EDT, Tuesday September 29, 2009

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (AP) -- Granite Construction Inc. said Tuesday its joint venture team with two other companies received a $659 million contract from New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The contract, from MTA Capital Construction, is to build the Queens Bored Tunnels and Structures for Long Island Rail Road's East Side Access project in New York. The work to be done on the project represents the last major link in the tunnels from Queens to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan.

When completed, the East Side Access project will bring Long Island Rail Road service into Grand Central. Currently the LIRR runs into Penn Station on the west side of the city.

Granite has a 42.5 percent share of the contract, or about $280 million worth. The other two members of the joint venture are civil construction company Traylor Bros. Inc. and general contractor Frontier-Kemper Constructors Inc.

The companies will excavate and concrete line four bored tunnels beneath an active rail storage yard. The tunnels will total nearly two miles in length and about 22 feet in diameter. The work also includes excavating three emergency exit structures, underpinning existing bridges and demolishing various rail yard buildings.

Work on the project will begin immediately and is estimated to take 42 months to complete.

Granite's shares jumped 82 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $30.91 in after-hours trading, having closed earlier down 23 cents at $30.09.

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