Design-Build Projects
CHS Consulting Group understands that successful design-build projects require a collaborative relationship between engineers, contractors, designers, and clients. We have worked closely with multidisciplinary design-build teams to consistently satisfy stakeholder goals and agency requirements, providing efficient solutions in an extremely time- and budget-sensitive environment. We have worked on numerous design-build projects, from the BART extensions to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Oakland International Airport to our current involvement in the initial construction for California High Speed Rail Segment 1 and the AirTrain Extension at SFO.
Areas of Expertise
Traffic Operations
Traffic Engineering Design
Traffic Control Plans
Traffic Management Plans
California High-Speed Rail Initial Construction Segment 1
Project Overview
The California High-Speed Rail Authority is developing an 800-mile high-speed train system that will operate at speeds of up to 220 miles per hour. Design and construction are beginning on the Central San Joaquin Valley Segment, the backbone of the system. Initial Construction Segment 1, the first phase of the project, extends approximately 29 miles from southern Madera County to the City of Fresno. The project is being delivered by design-build contract with a cost of $1 billion for Segment 1. The project will require grade separation of the HSR track alignment and city streets throughout the City of Fresno. The grade separation improvements impact nearly 70 intersections, 19 miles of roadway, facilities, intersection safety lighting, the City’s extensive ITS infrastructure, and Caltrans highway electrical facilities.
CHS Role
CHS Consulting Group is responsible for all traffic engineering plan development, including traffic signals, roadway and railway lighting, temporary signals and lighting, railroad interconnect and preemption, electrical service planning, highway lighting, traffic operation systems, and intelligent traffic systems within State of California and City of Fresno rights-of-way. CHS is developing and designing interim and permanent ITS system improvements to fiber optic facilities, wireless broadband radio, changeable message signs (CMS), flashing beacons, intersection safety lighting, and vehicle priority systems. These designs are extremely complex, and include fiber optic or wireless radio interconnect, ATMS traffic signal controllers, communication controllers, EVP, and IP cameras. Two cross town trunk lines for all city fiber, and Caltrans’ trunk for the entire State Route 180 corridor required disruption as HSR improvements tunneled under the highway and fiber. They also required the development of a temporary high bandwidth wireless radio system as part of the construction staging improvements.
BART Oakland Airport Connector
Project Overview
The Oakland Airport Connector is a 3.2-mile BART extension between the Oakland Coliseum Station and Oakland International Airport. An automated guideway transit (AGT) system runs primarily on an elevated guideway in the median of Hegenberger Road, the heavily traveled main road to the airport. Air traffic control concerns required one cut-and cover tunnel at the intersection of Doolittle Drive and Airport Access Road. The route continues on an elevated guideway to its destination at the airport terminal.
CHS Role
As part of the design-build team, CHS Consulting Group provided traffic engineering services including traffic signal design and plans, signing and striping plans, traffic operations and engineering analysis, and maintenance-of-traffic plans. For this fast-track project, CHS modified traffic signal designs along the entire project corridor. In addition, there were numerous non-signalized intersections along the route that require maintenance of traffic plans. The project also required complete reconstruction of the Doolittle/ Hegenberger intersection. A great deal of coordination was required among the design-build team, BART, Caltrans, Alameda County, the City of Oakland, and the Port of Oakland. CHS was fully staffed at the BART OAC Project Office and completed our contributions on schedule.
