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TriMet’s board of directors approved two construction contracts with Howard S. Wright, a Balfour Beatty company (HSW) at its monthly meeting on Wednesday 鈥� one addressing its stock of aging elevators and the other, its heavily-used Washington Park station.

HSW’s initial fee of $257,000, approved Wednesday, will cover some preconstruction services. Once work scope and scheduling are finalized, the board will likely be asked to consider authorization of the final cost, which is expected to come in around $15 million. Work is likely to begin in early 2019.

Many of the agency’s 30-plus elevators and material lifts were installed along with the original MAX light-rail line 鈥� the present blue line, between downtown and Gresham, completed in 1986.

The Portland office of Dallas-based HSW was the only firm to bid on the project.

鈥淲e believe we received only one bid because of the tight construction market and there are very few companies that do this sort of work,鈥� TriMet General Manager Neil McFarlane said.

As for the Washington Park station, the project’s RFP garnered three responses from qualified bidders. HSW’s initial contract for preconstruction services is worth $19,000, with the total amount expected to be around $1.3 million.

Because the station is used by visitors to attractions including the Oregon Zoo and the Portland Children’s Museum, keeping the station open and operational throughout the project is critical, McFarlane said.

HSW will employ the construction manager-general contracting project delivery method for both projects.