Jeff Morales

The top candidate to build the first 29 miles of California's bullet train in the Central Valley bid just under $1 billion, below the state estimate of the cost, project officials announced Friday. The California High-Speed Rail Authority said Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons, a joint venture of U.S. firms, submitted a bid of about $985 million and was ranked first out of five competitors. The team offered the "apparent best value" based on price and technical proposals, evaluators said.

The California bullet train agency on Thursday defended its bidding criteria for selecting the winner for its first construction contract, saying that the process held down prices and was handled properly. The California High-Speed Rail Authority has come under fire from critics who assert changes to the bidding criteria could jeopardize the quality of the project. The authority tentatively chose a team led by Sylmar-based Tutor Perini to build a 29-mile segment of track through Fresno even though it had the lowest technical score.

Caltrans Director Jeff Morales, who oversaw an ambitious expansion of the state's transportation programs under former Gov. Gray Davis, has resigned. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not named a replacement for Morales, whose resignation from his $123,255-a-year post officially takes effect March 1. "It's time to let them put their team together and for me to move on," said Morales, 43. He said he didn't know what he would do next.

The top candidate to build the first 29 miles of California's bullet train in the Central Valley bid just under $1 billion, below the state estimate of the cost, project officials announced Friday. The California High-Speed Rail Authority said Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons, a joint venture of U.S. firms, submitted a bid of about $985 million and was ranked first out of five competitors. The team offered the "apparent best value" based on price and technical proposals, evaluators said.

Jeff Morales is about to trade in 289 miles of train tracks for 15,000 miles of California highway. Plucked by Gov. Gray Davis from a top post at the Chicago Transit Authority, where he spent two years helping to manage that city's system of elevated trains, buses and subways, Morales is set to become the next director of California's troubled Department of Transportation.

The California bullet train agency on Thursday defended its bidding criteria for selecting the winner for its first construction contract, saying that the process held down prices and was handled properly. The California High-Speed Rail Authority has come under fire from critics who assert changes to the bidding criteria could jeopardize the quality of the project. The authority tentatively chose a team led by Sylmar-based Tutor Perini to build a 29-mile segment of track through Fresno even though it had the lowest technical score.

Construction of California's high-speed rail network is supposed to start in just six months, but the state hasn't acquired a single acre along the route and faces what officials are calling a challenging schedule to assemble hundreds of parcels needed in the Central Valley. The complexity of getting federal, state and local regulatory approvals for the massive $68-billion project has already pushed back the start of construction to July from late last year. Even with that additional time, however, the state is facing a risk of not having the property to start major construction work near Fresno as now planned.

The top candidate to build the first 29 miles of California's bullet train in the Central Valley bid just under $1 billion, below the state's estimates of the cost, high-speed rail officials announced Friday. The California High Speed Rail Authority said the Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons joint venture submitted a bid of about $985 million and was ranked first out of five competitors. The team offered the “apparent best value” based on price and technical proposals, officials said.

As he prepared to press a plan to significantly expand freeway and mass transit spending in California, Gov. Gray Davis sacked the embattled head of Caltrans late Friday, replacing him with a top official from the Chicago Transit Authority. Jeff Morales, executive vice president of the Chicago agency, will replace Department of Transportation Director Jose Medina, who gave up a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to take the administration post in December 1998.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority on Tuesday named Jeff Morales, an executive for a contractor working on the bullet train project, as its chief executive, filling a position that has been vacant since early January. Morales, a former Caltrans director, had been working on the project as an executive of Parsons Brinckerhoff, the project manager for the rail authority. The authority has come under increasingly tough criticism by the Legislature for its thin management, operating without a chief executive, a chief operating officer, a chief financial officer or a risk manager as it seeks to start a $6-billion segment of the rail system later this year.

The top candidate to build the first 29 miles of California's bullet train in the Central Valley bid just under $1 billion, below the state's estimates of the cost, high-speed rail officials announced Friday. The California High Speed Rail Authority said the Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons joint venture submitted a bid of about $985 million and was ranked first out of five competitors. The team offered the “apparent best value” based on price and technical proposals, officials said.

Construction of California's high-speed rail network is supposed to start in just six months, but the state hasn't acquired a single acre along the route and faces what officials are calling a challenging schedule to assemble hundreds of parcels needed in the Central Valley. The complexity of getting federal, state and local regulatory approvals for the massive $68-billion project has already pushed back the start of construction to July from late last year. Even with that additional time, however, the state is facing a risk of not having the property to start major construction work near Fresno as now planned.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority on Tuesday named Jeff Morales, an executive for a contractor working on the bullet train project, as its chief executive, filling a position that has been vacant since early January. Morales, a former Caltrans director, had been working on the project as an executive of Parsons Brinckerhoff, the project manager for the rail authority. The authority has come under increasingly tough criticism by the Legislature for its thin management, operating without a chief executive, a chief operating officer, a chief financial officer or a risk manager as it seeks to start a $6-billion segment of the rail system later this year.

Caltrans Director Jeff Morales, who oversaw an ambitious expansion of the state's transportation programs under former Gov. Gray Davis, has resigned. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not named a replacement for Morales, whose resignation from his $123,255-a-year post officially takes effect March 1. "It's time to let them put their team together and for me to move on," said Morales, 43. He said he didn't know what he would do next.

Jeff Morales is about to trade in 289 miles of train tracks for 15,000 miles of California highway. Plucked by Gov. Gray Davis from a top post at the Chicago Transit Authority, where he spent two years helping to manage that city's system of elevated trains, buses and subways, Morales is set to become the next director of California's troubled Department of Transportation.

As he prepared to press a plan to significantly expand freeway and mass transit spending in California, Gov. Gray Davis sacked the embattled head of Caltrans late Friday, replacing him with a top official from the Chicago Transit Authority. Jeff Morales, executive vice president of the Chicago agency, will replace Department of Transportation Director Jose Medina, who gave up a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to take the administration post in December 1998.

The California Department of Transportation has suspended rent increases on homes it owns in Pasadena, South Pasadena and El Sereno along the route of the proposed Long Beach Freeway extension. Caltrans had described the rent increases, which were to have taken effect Aug. 1, as 10%. But tenants said the agency was forcing increases as high as 23%.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority said Thursday that it was adding 12 months to the construction schedule for 130 miles of track in the Central Valley, easing what some outside experts have contended was an overly aggressive and risky timeline. Jeff Morales, chief executive of the authority, said the revised schedule would have the track completed by December 2017 rather than a year earlier as set under the agency's contracting documents. The new timetable will allow contractors to use less overtime and other practices that were expected under the accelerated plan in place earlier, Morales said.