Change Orders Help North Shore Budget

Port Authority of Allegheny County staff updated the Authority’s board today on the progress of the North Shore Connector work and reported that they are saving money through change orders. Change orders come as the scope of the work is tweaked during the process. The entire project is $1.9 million to the good at this point. That includes the $1.5 million lost when it was fond that the wrong type of electrical cable was being installed. Pat Rail Operations Engineering Officer Winston Simmons says they have determined that the error was due to a design flaw so they are in negotiations with the designers to recover some of the costs. The Authority hopes to recover about half the cost. Simmons says that includes returning the 120,000 feet of unused cable and selling the 30,000 feet of used material as scrap copper.

In all, about 72% of the project is complete and Simmons says they are on track for the March 2012 opening. Right now there are 6 contractors working on the North Shore station alone. Simmons says as those crews finish their work they will move on to the other stations being built as part of the connector. That includes the Gateway station that Simmons says will be closed in to allow traffic through the closed intersection by January 2011. After the intersection reopens there will still be underground work and work on the steel and glass atrium to be completed.