Friday, June 14, 2013

An ARRA Design-Build Success!

How to build an 8.4-mile-long route of freeway through an urban area?  

The Texas Dept. of Transportation seems to have found success by awarding a $1 billion design-build contract to NorthGate Constructors LLC for its State Highway 114/121 corridor, also known as the Dallas-Fort Worth Connector.  North Gate is a joint venture of Kiewit Texas Construction LP and Zachry Construction Corp.  The lead design engineer is PB Americas, a unit of Parsons Brinckerhoff.  The project, which expands and redesigns two interchanges and portions of four highways and includes 39 bridges and more than 100 retaining walls, is on track to finish one year ahead of schedule this September.



 "If this had been built under the old system of building roads in Texas, and built in sections, it would have been 12 to 15 years before they were done," says Gary Fickes, Tarrant County commissioner, whose precinct includes Grapevine and Southlake. "If you're a contractor on a four-and-a-half year project, and you're building it in three-and-a-half years, you're saving a lot of money."

“The project pieces together funds from a combination of sources, including $667 million in state gas tax revenue, $260 million in federal stimulus money and $139 million in voter-approved state revenue bonds. The DFW Connector is receiving the most American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding of any transportation project nationwide. Remaining portions of the total 14.4-mile project are still unfunded.”

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