A design-build consortium led by the Canadian parent company of Spokane Valley-based Graham Construction & Management Inc. has won a $343 million contract to design and build about 15 miles of a light-rail line in Denver.

Tim Loucks, Spokane Valley-based civil construction operations manager for Graham, says the office here did a significant amount of planning work toward the accepted proposal developed by the consortium, operating as Graham, Balfour Beatty, Hamon Constructors (GBBH). 

GBBH is scheduled to begin work early next year on the North Metro Rail Line project extending north from Denver Union Station in the city’s downtown core, he says.

Loucks says Calgary-based Graham Group Ltd. is the lead contractor working with the two other contractor businesses, Dallas-based Balfour Beatty Construction and Denver-based Hamon Constructors Inc. Employees from Graham’s offices in Spokane, Seattle, and Omaha, Neb., worked on the project proposal.

“Out of our group here, we provided a lot of the estimating and conceptual planning for putting the proposal together,” Loucks says.

He says Graham’s Spokane employees likely will be involved in construction work that’s expected to start late next year after the design work wraps up.

The GBBH consortium expects to finish the project by January 2018.

The Regional Transportation District in Denver awarded the contract and might have GBBH extend the project’s rail line length if additional funding becomes available, a district press release says. 

The district on its website says it currently operates six light-rail lines that stop at 46 stations. The GBBH project falls under FasTracks, a voter-approved transit expansion program.

Under FasTracks, the district says it plans to build 122 miles of commuter rail and light rail, 18 miles of bus rapid transit service, add 21,000 parking spaces, redevelop Denver Union Station, and redirect bus service to better connect eight counties.