A joint venture between Mace, Arcadis and tech firm Parsons has been chosen to deliver a $16bn (£12.63bn) US tunnelling project under the River Hudson between New York and New Jersey.
The joint venture, named MPA Delivery Partners, will work with client Gateway Development Commission to coordinate stakeholders, contractors and consultants on the Hudson Tunnel mega-project.
The appointment is a major coup for Mace, which has been picked ahead of American engineering companies to co-run a project described by US president Joe Biden as “one of the biggest and most consequential […] in the country”.
The scheme will see the construction of two new 2.4-mile-long tunnels and repairs to the existing North River Tunnel, which opened in 1910 and was damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
The new tunnels will improve capacity and resilience on key intercity and commuter rail lines – including connections between New York and New Jersey, New England and Washington DC.
Gateway Development Commission is a US government-sponsored agency responsible for delivering the tunnel and the project is supported by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
It it is set to receive nearly $12bn in federal funding, the largest investment in mass transit in modern US history.
At the end of January, US president Joe Biden said in a speech that 200,000 passengers use the existing rail tunnels every day and that “if this line shut down for just one day, it would cost the American economy $100m a day”.
He added that the Hudson Tunnel scheme is “the beginning of finally constructing a 21st century rail system that’s long, long overdue in this country” and “critical to transforming the Northeast Corridor, increasing speeds, capacity, reliability, and safety”.
Gateway Development Commission said MPA Partners will “provide project management support in key areas, including interface risk management, cost and schedule assurance, safety and quality management, and innovation and value engineering”.
It added that the delivery partner will “provide construction management support in the form of field management and safety, quality and compliance support, and more”.
In a joint statement, three commissioners for the client body said: “The delivery partner will be the arms and legs that enable GDC to continue to move this project in high gear as we prepare for heavy construction to start.
“With more major contract awards coming down the pike this year, getting the delivery partner on board ensures we have the strongest and most agile team possible at the ready.”
Mace is now working as delivery partner on three mega-projects in the Americas, having already been appointed to the Metrolinx in Canada and Peru’s Autoridad Nacional de Infraestructura.
Mace has previously been a delivery partner on two major projects in the UK: London 2012 Olympics development and Heathrow Terminal Five.
Jason Millett, group deputy chief executive at Mace, said: “From our experience bringing complex mega-projects to life around the world, we know the delivery partner model will provide the collaborative approach and certainty required for a programme of this scale.”
Greg Steele, global president of mobility at Arcadis, said: “The Gateway Hudson Tunnel will be a model of resilient infrastructure to future-proof safe and sustainable travel along the nation’s most economically vital corridor.”
Mark Fialkowski, president for North America infrastructure at Parsons, said: “HTP is a critical, once-in-a-generation project that will embody the excellence of our nation’s future infrastructure.”
