Skanska and Stacy Witbeck start LA’s 6.7-mile Van Nuys light rail line
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A joint venture of Skanska and Stacy Witbeck has broken ground on the East San Fernando Valley light rail transit project in Van Nuys, California, marking the formal start of a $2.43 billion contract for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro).
The ceremony took place at the Van Nuys Civic Center and was announced on Oct. 26. The project covers a 6.7-mile, street-level light rail line along Van Nuys Boulevard with 11 new stations, a 26-acre rail and maintenance facility, shade structures, and utility relocations. Skanska says completion is slated for December 2031.
Physical work started well before the ceremony. Skanska says construction began in July, and the joint venture signed its main $1.9 billion construction contract with LA Metro in August, with Skanska’s share worth $957 million. The $2.43 billion figure is the joint venture’s total contract value, which also includes preconstruction and early works.
For the wider industry, the project is a sizable transit job on the West Coast and a working example of progressive design-build on a complex urban rail line.
Progressive design-build brought the contractor in early
Skanska describes the project as a progressive design-build. Under that delivery method, the owner selects a contractor before the design is complete, then develops the design and the price with that team in stages. It differs from conventional design-bid-build, where a contractor typically prices a finished design.
James Bailey, executive vice president of Skanska USA Civil’s West Coast operations, said the method “enabled us to collaborate closely with LA Metro from day one.”
The contract figures reflect that staged structure. The $2.43 billion total includes the preconstruction and early works that came first, while the $1.9 billion agreement signed in August covers the main build.
For public owners, the approach trades some early price certainty for contractor input on design, constructability, and sequencing. That input can carry extra weight on a line that runs through a busy commercial corridor, where every lane closure and utility move affects businesses and commuters.
Building at street level along Van Nuys Boulevard
The line runs at grade along one of the San Fernando Valley’s main roads, so much of the work will happen alongside live traffic and active storefronts. Utility relocations are written into the scope, and they are often among the first and least predictable tasks on urban rail jobs.
Eric Meisgeier, project manager for Stacy Witbeck, said delivering the project “requires getting every detail right.” Clayton Gilliland, president of Stacy Witbeck, said in the groundbreaking announcement that hearing how the line will improve access to schools, jobs, and health care “reinforces why this work matters.”
Once the line opens, trains are expected to run every 7 to 10 minutes during peak hours.
Skanska and Stacy Witbeck have a long working relationship in the region, having partnered on 5 previous infrastructure and rail projects in Southern California, including the Sixth Street Viaduct replacement in downtown Los Angeles.
A local careers academy is part of the job
The joint venture will run the San Fernando Transit Constructors Careers Academy, which offers professional development courses for people who live near the project footprint and want to work in construction.
On a project scheduled to run for more than 5 years, a training pipeline drawn from the surrounding neighborhoods gives the joint venture another route to workers in a tight labor market. It also ties the project to the communities that will live with its construction impacts.
What remains to be seen is whether the early collaboration pays off in the field. With the main construction phase now underway and completion set for December 2031, the next few years will show whether progressive design-build helps LA Metro and its contractors limit the cost and schedule surprises that often follow street-level rail work.
Source
Skanska
