The Sound Transit board yesterday approved the biggest contract so far for its Seattle light-rail line: $280 million, plus a $20 million contingency, to dig a one-mile tunnel under Beacon Hill and build two stations.
The total of up to $300 million is $42 million more than the agency had budgeted. But, since other parts of the 14-mile line are being built for less than Sound Transit had estimated, the project's total budget of $2.44 billion won't be affected, officials say.
The Beacon Hill segment, to be built by Obayashi Corp., is the only underground portion of the light-rail line between downtown Seattle and Tukwila. Sound Transit officials have attributed the higher-than-anticipated cost of the job to contractor jitters about inflation and to lack of competition — just two teams submitted bids.