One Stop, One Bidder

Remember, $2 billion would buy many, many buses — maybe enough to make commuting more attractive even*:

The $2 billion plan to extend the no. 7 subway line has received only one bid for what is likely the project’s biggest contract, a factor that could weaken the state’s ability to leverage a low-cost final agreement.

The group that submitted the bid for the tunneling was a venture including one of the most active builders in the city, Skanska USA, which has received hundreds of millions in city and state contracts in recent years. Skanska’s projects in the region include the PATH hub at ground zero, construction of the Croton Water Filtration Plant, a contract worth more than $1 billion, and work on the Delaware Aqueduct water tunnel.

“It’s not ideal to only have one,” the executive director of the New York City Transit Riders Council, William Henderson, said. “This is a good chunk of the money for the project, and my understanding is, more importantly, it’s the part where you don’t have a good a hold on what the price is going to be.”

. . .

The no. 7 line extension, which will run 1.5 miles between Times Square and the southern end of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, lacks any guarantee of funding beyond the $2 billion committed by the city. Given that rising construction costs could contribute to cost overruns, transit advocates have expressed concerns about the project, which the city has pegged as a key driver in its effort to spur development on the West Side.

*Like John Liu says (in the headline at least), mass transit is better than congestion pricing.