The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
Two days after revealing that construction of the city's light-rail line is 24 percent over budget, Hampton Roads Transit's board on Thursday approved a related contract that is triple projections.
The board awarded a $926,000 demolition contract for razing Kirn Memorial Library and the Baylor Building downtown to S.B. Cox Inc. of Richmond. The work was budgeted at $301,000.
The board also approved expanding a consulting contract for light-rail construction management to $12.8 million from $10 million to PBS&J. As previously reported, HRT officials said the cost of consulting work for the project is growing because of added duties and delays in the construction schedule.
The increases are reflected in the project's new $288 million price tag, up from $232.1 million when light rail won federal approval last fall.
Fred Schneader, HRT's senior vice president for construction, said the agency was not aware of the extent of hazardous materials in the buildings to be demolished and its mitigation and disposal is mainly to blame for driving up the cost.
He also said that the demolitions were originally part of a contract to build the downtown portion of the rail line, but were made a separate contract, which also costs more.
Officials attribute the other overruns mostly to construction and real estate cost increases, safety and security features requested by the state, changes sought by Norfolk State University, and enhancements such as station upgrades and landscaping added by the city.
HRT is partnering with the city to build a 7.4-mile light-rail line from the medical center on Brambleton Avenue, through downtown, to the city line at Newtown Road. It's being paid for with federal, state and local money.
Norfolk's share of the added costs is $20.7 million, bringing city taxpayers' contribution to $53.7 million. The state is picking up the rest of the overruns, bringing its share to $67.1 million. The federal share remains at $167.2 million.
Kirn will close its doors near the end of December, library director Norman Maas said. Schneader said work to prepare Kirn for demolition will begin next month. The library will reopen across the street at the Seaboard building with limited service until renovations are complete in a few months, Maas said. Over the next four years, an addition will be built to Seaboard to become the city's new main library.
A light-rail station will be built where Kirn now stands on City Hall Avenue. The rail line also will cut across the property where the Baylor Building now stands on York Street.
The board also approved using condemnation to acquire four properties for the project. They are two parcels on York Street owned by James E. Baylor Holding Corp.; the Norfolk Moose Lodge No. 39 on Kempsville Road; and a former automotive business at Newtown and Kempsville roads.
The Moose Lodge is moving to a former video arcade near The Gallery at Military Circle shopping mall.
Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com
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i hate squirrely
i hate squirrely
BALTIMORE'S LRT LINE
The Central LRT line in Baltimore could easily disperse the crowds riding the trains after a baseball/football game if the MTA Operating Department or State management chose to do so. The BAL LRT, a MD operation, can handle three-car trains [six units total], with overall capacity of @600 passengers, and a single operator. The inability to take advantage of this scenario relates more to either poor management or limited finances than to any fault with LRT, all things being equal. However, although most of the line is upon private-right-of-way, the crawl north/south along the surface of Howard St. contributes to increased running times as well as operational problems on occasion. South of Camden Yards, there is no street operation; it is all p.r.w.
Hey stupid council
I have a budget. When I run low on funds I don't do what I want to do. You on the other hand can only come up with higher taxes. Maybe it's time people slapped you upside the head and taught you how to live in a budget and when you don't have the $$$ you don't do things.
Build what you can in your budget and then that's it for that budget year.
Duh! Is that so hard to figure out?
What do you expect from a bunch of holier than thou idiots who are on a city council? What do you expect from a group of citizens that elect these bozo's year after year?
mjbooher
LTR is good? You mean the LTR in Baltimore that takes hours to travel 10 miles from Camden Yards to the airport when the game lets out, because they don't have enough trains, which don't hold enough people, and move slow as dirt? Is that the one you are talking about?
and another thing
If people want suburban, rural areas there is always Southwestern Virginia. This part of Virginia, as well as Northern Virginia, is not going to go back to the way that things used to be. It doesn't matter if the transients that you do not want to live in the area leave they will simply be replaced by more. I mean there is the obvious glaring fact that the military bases in the area simply encourage that type of mindset and are a large contributor to the fact of so many transients living here to begin with and I don't see that changing anytime soon. So no people can go back to Boston, and New York, and Ohio and wherever else all the way but that doesn't change the fact of infrastructural issues that this place is going to face just like the poor can stay in Norfolk and Portsmouth all they want you still need better transportation to get yourself back and forth to work.
not again
For the love of God Virginia Pilot with the negativity about this light rail. It is going to take 2 years to build this first phase, and I most certainly do not want to hear about every minute detail about cost overruns. I don't care if it takes 800 million to build I don't want to continue to hear about it. I expect it to cost a lot; anyone with any common sense remotely knowledgeable about what these public infrastructure projects cost expect it cost a lot. It is costing a fortune for VDOT to expand what few highways we have in the region as well, and I don't hear you talking about that. I am dearly sorry for you that the new "transit authority", of which was going to manhandle drivers into paying for their operating costs through "abusive driver fees" was defeated by the Supreme Court, but that is a dead horse you need to get over and move on.
running everyone away
Where will all the taxpayer money come from when people actually do start dumping their properties and leaving, letting them foreclose and there's no one left in Norfolk except those in public housing to rely on for tax dollars? LRT will never work around here. NOTHING is centrally located. This area is not a metropolis and never will be. This is podunk hampton roads. Period.
Typical Politics
Are you kidding me! I'm reading the terms, Fire, Move, Renegotiate, or just say no. We, as taxpayers know the truth, this is typical politics. There isn't one true honest business person in this country that would sign-off on this project; they would lose their job. It takes a politician to agree and authorize such a crooked project because there is no accountability. Come on people, this is just the beginning. It's going to get worse for the Norfolk taxpayer before it gets any better. Remember the Granby Tower. Someone made a ton of cash on a defunct project.
ha, ha ha, Ha, Ha, Ha,HA,HA,HA! Just Wait........
Typical Norfork project. You ain't seen nothing yet. No telling how OVERBUDGET the city council will allow this to go. I moved from Norfork years ago and this is all Entertainment to me.
Cut your loses and get out of this
I can honestly tell you that, after living in Norfolk, Virginia for 23 years, I for one, am in the process of looking somewhere else to live. This city, and it's council members, have made, and continue to make ridiculous decisions and waste enormous amounts of money and call it the price for progress. This is not New York City, this is not a tourist city, this is Norfolk, Virginia, the city that used to be nice to live. Used to be that is, until these clowns started making crazy decisions and not listening to the people of this city. No one wants this light rail system at this cost. No one. I'll be honest, I don't care if I leave my current house mortgage due if I can't sell, can't get blood from a stone, and I certainly don't want my money wasted on more ridiculous projects. I'm not the only one that feels this way, look around your neighborhoods at the boarded up home. It's just beginning. I just want out of Norfolk. My taxes are so high now, it's a struggle month to month anyway and I make a very very good living.