The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation hopes to team
with private industry to take a giant bite out of the state's inventory of
deficient bridges.
At least 500 decaying bridges would be replaced starting in
2015 under a partnership in which a private entity would be selected to design,
build and maintain the bridges, in exchange for payments from PennDOT that
would be tied to performance.
The state owns about 4,200 bridges that are designated as
structurally deficient. While considered safe, the bridges have at least one
component that is deteriorating, placing them at risk for weight restrictions
or, ultimately, closure. The average age of Pennsylvania's bridges is about 50
years.
About 18 percent of the state's bridges are structurally
deficient, while the national average is just over 7 percent. Pennsylvania
leads the U.S. in deficient bridges, a dubious distinction it is likely to shed
after the Rapid Bridge Replacement Project moves forward.
With a 2012 public-private partnership law in place, PennDOT
initially had hoped to bundle 300 bridges into the program. Enactment of new
transportation funding legislation in November enabled the department to expand
the program.
Nearly 60 smaller bridges in Allegheny County are on the
list for possible replacement, along with 23 in Westmoreland, 13 in Butler, 11
in Armstrong and five in Indiana County.
Among the busier bridges ticketed for replacement are
structures on Allegheny River Boulevard in Pittsburgh and Penn Hills; Ardmore
Boulevard in Forest Hills; Logans Ferry Road in Plum; Island Avenue in Stowe;
and Freeport Road in Harmar and East Deer. Most are less than 60 feet long.
PennDOT hopes to capitalize on cost savings because most of
the new bridges will have similar designs and construction standards. In the
past, the department typically would pay for design and construction of bridges
one at a time.
The public-private partnership "gives us the ability to
accelerate the delivery of 550 to 650 bridge replacements that otherwise
wouldn't happen for 15 to 20 years if we were to use a traditional contracting
model," PennDOT spokeswoman Erin Waters-Trasatt said.
The project has generated a lot of buzz in the construction
industry. A presentation on the program in November drew representatives of
nearly 150 companies, including contractors, engineers and financial
organizations.
"A great portion of my members are very interested in
this program," said Eric Madden, executive vice president of the American
Council of Engineering Companies of Pennsylvania, comprising more than 125
companies.
Companies are racing to put together teams to submit
proposals, he said.
In addition to taking care of lots of bridges with critical
needs in a short time, the program will provide stability to the engineering
and construction industry "to keep people employed and to hire
people," he said.
PennDOT has invited companies to submit their qualifications
to oversee the program by Jan. 31.
After the submissions are reviewed, PennDOT will invite
qualified teams to submit proposals. It will determine the best proposal based
on cost and technical approach, and hopes to have construction underway on 50 to
100 of the bridges in 2015.
"With a project of this scale, we anticipate that
proposers will establish their own teams including multiple contractors, but
the exact structure is up to them," Ms. Waters-Trasatt said.
The winning bidder also will maintain the new bridges over a
long term, possibly up to 40 years.
Traditionally, a contractor's responsibility ends with
completion of a bridge, Ms. Waters-Trasatt said. "With the requirement to
take maintenance costs into consideration, the project team may decide it is
more cost effective to build the bridges in a way that reduces the amount of
anticipated maintenance in the future. The department anticipates realizing
value from this by reducing not just the construction cost but the whole life
cycle cost of the bridge."
The state has made great progress in recent years, reducing
its backlog of more than 6,000 structurally deficient bridges to the current
total of 4,211 as of Dec. 31.
Source: Post
Gazette
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