ASCE Los Angeles Section

Pasadena to Azusa, CA

“Hill International, Inc. (Hill) was commissioned by the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority (Authority) to provide program management consultant and construction management oversight services for development of the nearly $1 billion Foothill Gold Line light rail project from Pasadena to Azusa. The
Foothill Gold Line light rail project extends the currently operating Metro Gold Line approximately 12 miles east from Pasadena to the border of Azusa/Glendora, California and is the first of two extension segments. The Foothill Gold Line was built using design‐build project delivery. The Pasadena to Azusa segment, which reached substantial completion on September 23, 2015, is an 11.5‐mile segment beginning at the terminus of the Metro Gold Line, Sierra Madre Villa Station in Pasadena and ending at Citrus Avenue in Azusa. The segment was built using design‐build project delivery and connects Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale and Azusa to the growing network of rail lines in Los
Angeles County. Six stations, one in each corridor city (Azusa is the only city with two stations) was built as part of the project, along with a 24‐acre Operations and Maintenance facility. Revenue service for this phase is scheduled to begin March 5, 2016.”

“As mentioned above, a 24‐acre operations and maintenance facility was built to service the Gold Line’s light rail vehicle fleet as well as vehicles from other county systems. In order to help mitigate the impact of such a large facility, the Authority strove to find ways to promote sustainability throughout the campus. The goal was to identify improvements that could be added to the facility to reduce the overall use of natural resources (water, electricity and building materials for instance), while not significantly impacting the project completion schedule or cost. Toward that end, the Hill team generated sustainability concepts to exceed the contractually required LEED Silver certification and ultimately achieved LEED Gold certification standards. One of Hill’s key concepts to upgrade from LEED Silver to Gold was the installation of a 178.5‐kilowatt solar panel array on the Maintenance of Way canopy structure (that will generate an average of 22,000 kilowatt hours of electricity every month, enough to power 27% of the needs of the
Main Shop Building and equivalent to the electricity needed to fully power more than 24 homes each month), and a large‐scale storm water collection and filtration system built under the facility to capture, filter, and then help recharge the local groundwater system. Related to design of the facility, Building Information Modeling (BIM), in addition to other modeling methods, was used in the design of the facility’s buildings to minimize conflicts during construction. Because the facility provides offices and training facilities for Metro’s operations and maintenance staff, the importance of coordination with Metro was established early on. To this end, three workshops were held between the design‐builder and Metro prior to submission of the 60% design plans in an effort to identify any potential design issues or concerns and to have the end user involved in the design as early as possible. This workshop approach greatly reduced changes during construction.

As noted previously, the Gold Line Bridge spanned an earthquake fault line which posed several design and coordination complexities, including construction over five lanes of traffic. First, a fault study was commissioned to determine the location, recurrence intervals, and possible future deformations of the fault in conformity with state standards and project goals. Several techniques were used to study the fault including refraction microtremor technology, drilling, trenching and a geophysical survey. In particular, 72 large diameter borings were drilled to depths of up to 104 feet below grade and geologists were lowered into the shafts via baskets to map the strata of the soil. While past design methodologies focused solely on the static displacement induced by a surface fault, the Foothill Gold Line project was the first to use both the static and dynamic nature of a surface fault. The fact that the freeway would pass directly beneath the Gold Line Bridge meant that the design had to accommodate the desire by Caltrans for a structure that would be more ductile and thus experience greater displacement during a seismic event. At the same time, Metro and the Authority sought a structure with greater elasticity so that any damage to the piled shafts from an earthquake would be more repairable. To accommodate the contradictory preferences, a ductile shaft was used for the bridge columns combined with time‐domain reflectometry (TDR) technology that during a seismic event would detect the formation of plastic hinges in a shaft, an indication of underground damage. The result was the creation of “smart foundations” which was the first use of this approach in California. This technology enables engineers to detect the depth and location of potential damage via fiber optic cables and a signal generator which emits electric pulses. Four equally spaced fiber optic cables were embedded just inside the perimeter of each column shaft, the upper ends terminating in a monitoring station. If a plastic hinge forms, the cable or cables will
be crimped or stretched, generating a detectable ““reflection”” that will reveal the location of the hinge. In this way troubleshooters will be able to demarcate the damaged area. The resulting smart foundations both enhance the seismic performance of the structure and make it easier to locate underground damage.
This innovative use of TDR technology was essential in resolving a final design concern, which in turn kept the project on schedule.

Another novel approach used by the project was to set aside a $200,000 budget for each city to resolve disputed scope items. This approach was used to avoid potential scope disputes between the designbuilder and the cities associated with disagreements regarding city standards and desired additions to the project. This kept the job from being delayed by resolving scope disputes during the design process in a timely manner and it kept the cities and design‐builder on good terms by avoiding these types of disputes.”

“As with many projects, extensive coordination was required with third parties and stakeholders along the project alignment; however this project exceeded standard coordination efforts with input from multiple agencies. A non‐exhaustive list includes: the five corridor cities (Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale,
and Azusa), Caltrans, SCRRA, BNSF, UP, fire and police departments with jurisdiction in each city/county, numerous utility companies including Southern California Edison and Southern California Gas Company, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and many more. In the case of the US Army Corps of Engineers special coordination was necessary to modify the 700‐foot San Gabriel River Bridge. This included years of coordination to obtain approvals and permits for construction of the bridge through the San Gabriel River, which is a Waterway of the United States. As a result of obtaining the USACE permits early, the project
was able to successfully build the San Gabriel River Bridge in a very tight dry season window and avoid a potential year‐long delay to the project. Furthermore, there were no critical path delays due to late permits issued by third parties.
Approximately 3.5 miles of the project alignment was within a “shared corridor” with BNSF, wherein the Metro light rail and BNSF freight operate on different tracks but within the same right‐of‐way. The freight tracks had to be relocated as a result of the project, and performing such operation required an extensive
amount of coordination with BNSF and SCRRA (also referred to as Metrolink) who is the dispatcher for BNSF, especially due to the fact that BNSF serviced a large customer (MillerCoors) in this area. The freight tracks were successfully relocated on time and with no impacts to BNSF’s service or its customers.
As part of the project, a 24‐acre operations and maintenance facility was designed and constructed to support light rail vehicle operations, storage, cleaning, maintenance and repair for the Metro Gold Line system along with other county light rail systems. This facility included a main shop and operations
building, five support buildings, and overnight storage for 84 light rail vehicles. Several businesses occupied the site at the time of NTP and while the design‐build contract stipulated properties would be available for demolition by a certain date, negotiations for their procurement and vacancy varied, threatening the schedule. The Hill team was able to negotiate early turn‐over to the design‐builder on several acquired properties, enabling early demolition on most parcels which mitigated potential delays. Furthermore, the disposal of hazardous materials was excluded from the design‐build contract which created the potential to delay demolition and excavation if hazardous materials were discovered. To
counteract this, the resources were staged for “immediate” response to hazmat findings. Over the course of abatement, demolition, and mass excavation/backfill, 45 additional work orders were executed without a claim. During the final stages of fire water supply design, the design‐builder determined the maximum
GPM available from the city system was 3,700GPM, far below the mandated delivery of 7,200GPM. To deliver additional capacity, the project required a water reserve system. Despite the fact that the site plan was already designed, the team conceived a 606,000 gallon storage tank and 3,500 GPM diesel pump
to address these concerns, with only minor revisions to the site design. Additionally, after bidding and NTP, and also after the site plan was fully designed, the State of California adopted more stringent stormwater management (MS‐4) regulations. To resolve this, the team identified systems which would be installed under site parking lots and roadways, without compromising track placement, landscape or parking. Notwithstanding all of these hurdles, the Authority was able to turn the facility over to Metro three months ahead of schedule.

An additional challenge was posed when constructing the Gold Line Bridge, a 584‐foot bridge stretching diagonally across the five‐lane Eastbound I‐210 freeway. The bridge was built over a fault line which created many design complexities which were successfully overcome with planning and an innovative use of “smart foundations” as described in the next section. Although conventional wisdom calls for avoiding any such surface fault rupture zones, this was not an option for the project alignment. The Hill team recommended that the complex fault study be performed prior to contract award in lieu of the original plan of assigning that task to the DB. This proactive approach resulted in schedule savings of approximately six months.”

“CFT 2016 Transporation Award
Hill received a 2016 Transportation Award from the California Transportation Foundation (CTF) for the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension. The project won in the category of ““Best Rail/Transit Project.”” (May 31, 2016)

CMAA Project Achievement Award
Hill received a Project Achievement Award from the Southern California Chapter of the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) in the category of ““Design-Build Project Valued at More Than $100 Million”” for its management of the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension from Pasadena to Azusa in Southern California. (April 21, 2016)

WCCC Distinguished Award for Infrastructure
Hill received a “Distinguished Award for Infrastructure” from the Western Council of Construction Consumers for its management of the Gold Line Bridge in Arcadia, California. (November 1, 2013)

ENR Best Projects
Hill received a Best Projects Award in the ““Highways/Bridges”” category from ENR California magazine for the company’s management of the Gold Line Bridge in Arcadia, California. (October 1, 2013)

CMAA Project Achievement Award
Hill received a ““Project Achievement Award”” from the Southern California Chapter of the Construction Management Association of America for its management of the construction of the Gold Line Bridge in Arcadia, California, which won in the category of “Transportation Project Between $11-$50 Million.” (March 27, 2013)”

Hill International, Inc. (Hill) was commissioned by the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority (Authority) to provide program management consultant and construction management oversight services for development of the nearly $1 billion Foothill Gold Line light rail project from Pasadena to Azusa.

“Hill International, Inc. (Hill) was commissioned by the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority (Authority)
to provide program management consultant and construction management oversight services for
development of the nearly $1 billion Foothill Gold Line light rail project from Pasadena to Azusa. The
Foothill Gold Line light rail project extends the currently operating Metro Gold Line approximately 12 miles
east from Pasadena to the border of Azusa/Glendora, California and is the first of two extension segments.
The Foothill Gold Line was built using design‐build project delivery.

The Pasadena to Azusa segment, which reached substantial completion on September 23, 2015, is an
11.5‐mile segment beginning at the terminus of the Metro Gold Line, Sierra Madre Villa Station in
Pasadena and ending at Citrus Avenue in Azusa. The segment was built using design‐build project delivery
and connects Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale and Azusa to the growing network of rail lines in Los
Angeles County. Six stations, one in each corridor city (Azusa is the only city with two stations) was built
as part of the project, along with a 24‐acre Operations and Maintenance facility. Revenue service for this
phase is scheduled to begin March 5, 2016.”