Citing a $66 million loss as a result of delays on the MoPac express lane project, contractor CH2M announced Tuesday it will subcontract the remainder of the project. However, the change is not expected to affect the timeline of the new opening date for the entire project, which has been pushed back to June, according to CH2M. “We’re pretty confident in hitting mid-June,” CH2M Project Director Craig Martell said Wednesday morning at the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority board meeting. In the past CH2M has attributed delays to a number of factors, including inclement weather, unknown utilities discovered underground, hard rock and change orders—work that is beyond the original project scope—from the Mobility Authority, which oversees the MoPac project. “The bottom line is work is progressing and change orders are ongoing,” said Dee Anne Health, the Mobility Authority’s director of external affairs and media relations. “We have no reason to be negative or concerned.” Connecticut-based Lane Construction, which has been a subcontractor on the MoPac project since it broke ground in early 2014, will complete the rest of the project. “Lane has seen tremendous progress on their projects,” Heath said. Jeff Dailey, the Mobility Authority’s deputy executive director, said he has had ongoing conversations with CH2M regarding change orders and the project is progressing. He said the agency’s staffers are working with CH2M on the schedule. “We’re really happy with what we’re seeing from Lane,” he said. “They’re working on a tough section from Enfield [Road] to [RM] 2222.” Some weather-dependent work, however, will need to occur in late March and early April to keep the project on track, Mobility Authority officials said. This includes laying down the final pavement layer of permeable friction course on the southbound side between US 183 and RM 2222. The work will be done overnight and likely involve lane closures. [caption id="attachment_216874" align="alignright" width="460"] Crews worked on a retaining wall in December on the southbound side of MoPac north of Steck Avenue.[/caption]

Building up MoPac

The MoPac project will add one express, or toll, lane in both directions between Parmer Lane and Cesar Chavez Street. The express lanes are variable tolled, meaning the price goes up as traffic increases in the main and express lanes and decreases as traffic decreases. The project was originally supposed to open in fall 2015, but CH2M faced numerous delays, and the opening date was pushed back several times. The first express lane section on northbound MoPac between RM 2222 and Parmer opened in October. The Mobility Authority reported weekly transactions were between 18,000 and 19,000 in late 2016. The average cost of the toll has been about 50 cents. CH2M was hired in February 2013 and proposed an alternative design for the express lane connectors into downtown Austin. The Mobility Authority approved the contractor’s design to build underpasses, which reportedly added time to the project. The company also announced Tuesday another hit of $59 million for “estimated cost increases for delays and productivity shortfalls on a fixed-price, engineer-procure-construct power plant project in Australia.” CH2M reported third quarter revenues in 2016 were $1.28 billion compared with $1.37 billion from the same time frame in 2015, a decline of 6.5 percent. The company attributes declines to the MoPac and Australia projects and reported an overall $58 million loss in its transportation segment. “It’s frustrating when the same two legacy projects keep weighing on our financial performance, especially because they overshadow improvements in our core business, which remains sound despite the headwinds our broader industry is facing,” CH2M chairwoman and CEO Jacqueline Hinman said in a news release.