A records request recently turned up a copy of the draft geotechical report, i.e., what they found after some test drilling.
We’re not geotechnical engineers, but it certainly seems like they found more than a few obstacles (the report is replete with “difficult drilling conditions”). Given that the project will require MANY drilled shafts as part of construction, this creates both cost and delay risks.
The project can potentially push some of the cost risk to the drilling contractor (which will result in higher bids), but as Project Administrator Greg Johnson has said many times, delay is very expensive and we don’t see how the project can duck that risk.