91ÊÓƵ

Dan Blocher is the new executive director of capital projects for TriMet. He previously spent 13 years with the transit agency working on cost analysis and contract management for projects like the MAX yellow and green light-rail lines. He left TriMet in 2000, and then returned two years later as senior director of capital projects.

Now, less than a month into his present role, he’s taking on some of the biggest challenges of his career with projects like Portland-to-Milwaukie light rail and the Columbia River Crossing.

Blocher sat down with the 91ÊÓƵ to talk about the proposed 7.3-mile, $1.47 billion Portland-to-Milwaukie light-rail project. After receiving a 50 percent match in federal money, instead of the 60/40 split it sought, TriMet is recalibrating the project as quickly as possible to accommodate the proposed July 2011 start date for construction. The first stage of construction is to build a $135 million bridge across the Willamette River.

91ÊÓƵ: How has your history with these projects helped you step into this role, especially with a project like the Portland-Milwaukie light rail on the table?

Dan Blocher: It’s important in Portland to understand the way we approach our projects here, understanding how Metro (regional government) takes the lead in defining the project and then how it comes to TriMet to work on the implementation of that defined project.

My role in the past has put me mostly in the implementation end of the work, and my new role pulls me forward into that transition from the outreach and planning role, into the design and construction mode.

I would say my background before TriMet, having worked for a contractor and an engineering consulting firm has also helped me understand the various roles that each particular entity plays in the development of these projects.

91ÊÓƵ: After failing to get the full 60 percent from the federal government to fund the project, one of the options TriMet said it is looking to find additional funds. Do you know where you’ll begin to look for that money?

Blocher: We’ll be talking to all the stakeholders around the project to see what the possibilities are for additional funds. It’s a difficult question and it’s difficult times to ask that question. Perhaps we can get some property donations that are in the project and planned for purchase. But nevertheless, we think the timing is very important and we’re anxious to see the project move forward on its current timing. A big part of that is to begin construction next season and get these jobs coming in the region as soon as possible.

The federal government is not agreeing to pay for half of any project cost. The federal government is agreeing to match any local funds dollar for dollar. So, if we can find an additional dollar locally, we get a dollar along with that from the federal government. It’s basically dollar for dollar. We get to close the gap by two dollars for every one that we put in. To bring the project cost down, we don’t get a second dollar in reduction for every cut you make, so you get the gap closed easier with additional funds.

Right now we’re looking into both cutting and finding funding, and we’ll see if they can’t meet in the middle.

91ÊÓƵ: If you can’t come up with the additional funds for the project, do you know where you’ll begin cutting?

Blocher: We certainly don’t know where we’re going to be cutting. What we’re going to be doing now is recalibrating the project. What that means is we’re going to look at options for bringing additional funding to the project and then, if necessary, we’re going to cut costs in order to bring the project into balance.

What we’ve done is begin to examine some possibilities we might have on the cost-cutting side. They’re not fully baked; it’s just a starting point.

91ÊÓƵ: What is the next step for this project? Is there a timeline you’re running up against?

Blocher: The conditions for working on the bridge are controlled by certain times of the year for water work activity, due to migratory fish. So basically we can work in the water from July to October, and our current plan is to begin the in-water work by July of 2011. If we can’t do that, the bridge portion of the project would be delayed by a year. It wouldn’t delay the whole project a year, but it would certainly delay it. We believe the magnitude of that delay could be in the magnitude of $50 million to $60 million.
So if we can’t put the recalibration together quickly we’ll just have a bigger hole that we’ve created. We’ll have made the problem a little harder, not insurmountable; it would just make it harder. So it’s important for us on a schedule and cost standpoint to keep the project moving.
The other aspect is how that would affect the federal funding side. We have a commitment from the federal government for them to pay 50 percent, which is good for a project of this size. It wasn’t all we hoped for, but it was still very good. That door is cracked open, and we want to get in there and capture those funds and bring them to the region. If we delay a year, there will just be that many more projects competing with us for those federal dollars.

A good goal for us now is if we have the recalibration of the project fully understood by the end of September.

91ÊÓƵ: What are some of the other transportation issues on your plate?

Blocher: Well, the Columbia River Crossing comes to mind. There is a light-rail component in the overall project undertaking and TriMet is working on that in support of the light rail and the locally preferred alternative.

TriMet is also the federal grantee for the eastside streetcar project. We also have aspirations for a streetcar extension to Lake Oswego, although TriMet would not be funding the project; we would provide an assist on the project.