This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.

Sound Transit Press Release:

The University Link light rail extension moved closer to construction today as six bids on the first major construction contract came in below cost estimates. Condon Johnson & Associates, Inc. is the apparent low bidder with a $19.4 million bid to prepare the area where a tunnel boring machine will pass beneath Interstate 5 in downtown Seattle, with a bid 34 percent below the $29.6 million engineers’ estimate.

Obviously this is a single data point, but it’s in line with my prediction from last month that construction companies with more time on their hands — due to the construction downturn — would start bidding down the costs.