Hensel Phelps Awarded WMATA Projects

Wednesday June 10, 2020

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) recently awarded two design-build contracts to Hensel Phelps.

The Bladensburg Bus Garage, located in Washington, D.C., includes the demolition of an existing structure, site preparation and construction of the new Bladensburg Bus Operations and Maintenance facility. The new facility will have the capacity to service a fleet of 250 WMATA transit vehicles, including articulated buses, and will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The facility will be designed to provide bus maintenance, repair, paint, operations and fuel and wash services. Unique aspects of the project include Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) systems and provisions to accommodate future bus technology for the use of clean diesel, hybrid electrical diesel and battery electric buses (BEB). Design is underway and construction is expected to begin in late 2020 and complete in 2025. Hensel Phelps teamed up with Michael Baker International Architects for this design-build project.

Located in Landover, Maryland, the Heavy Repair and Overhaul (HRO) Facility will provide maintenance services to WMATA’s fleet of Metrorail vehicles. The scope of work will include demolition of an existing structure, site preparation and construction of the new facility and parking garage. The 340,000 SF maintenance facility will be designed to provide maintenance, heavy repair, operations, fuel and wash services and will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A 560-space parking garage is also included in the project. Construction is anticipated to begin in August of 2021 and is scheduled for completion in June of 2024. Hensel Phelps is teamed with Stantec to successfully deliver the project.

Both projects employ WMATA’s progressive design-build delivery method which consists of two phases: Phase 1 – Preconstruction and Phase 2 – Construction. Upon the completion of Phase 1, the design-build teams will negotiate construction costs with WMATA. Combined, the projects could total up to $445 million.

Hensel Phelps has previously completed or is currently working on over $615 million of work for WMATA and looks forward to delivering excellence for this valued client.