Construction team chosen for $900M Pa. bridge replacement

A consortium known as Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners has been selected for the state Department of Transportation’s Rapid Bridge Replacement Project to replace 558 bridges across Pennsylvania.

The Rapid Bridge Replacement Project was approved by the state’s P3 Board (Public Private Partnership) on Sept. 27 last year.

According to PennDOT, the team’s $899 million proposal was selected based on scoring that considered cost, financial capability to carry out the project, background and experience in managing comparable projects and understanding of the project.

The project will cost an average of $65 million annually for the 28-year contract term. That number includes financing costs, which bring the overall cost of the project to the state to around $1.8 billion.

Under the Rapid Bridge Replacement contract, the team must begin construction in summer 2015 and complete the replacements within three years.

The team is responsible for maintaining each bridge for 25 years after its replacement. However, the state retains ownership of the bridges.

Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners consists of the Plenary Group of Vancouver, The Walsh Group of Chicago, Granite Construction Co. of Watsontown, Calif., and HDR Engineering of Mechanicsburg. Walsh additionally has an office in Pittsburgh.

The team also includes 11 Pennsylvania-based subcontractors, including: A.D. Marble & Co. of Conshohocken, Montgomery County; M.A. Beech Corp. of Carnegie, Allegheny County; Carmen Paliotta Contracting of South Park Township, Allegheny County; Clearwater Construction Inc. of Mercer, Mercer County; Francis J. Palo Inc. of Clarion, Clarion County; Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc. of State College, Centre County; J.D. Eckman Inc. of Atglen, Chester County; J.F. Shea Construction Inc. of Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County; Larson Design Group of Williamsport, Lycoming County; Swank Construction Co. of New Kensington, Westmoreland County; and TRC Engineers Inc. of Export; Westmoreland County.

“LDG will have the opportunity to do bridge design, environmental and other services that are yet to be negotiated as a part of this agreement, and we are excited to do our part in helping rid Pennsylvania of structurally-deficient bridges,” said Doug Smith, vice president of transportation engineering at the Larson Design Group, one of the subcontractors.

The average cost for design, construction and maintenance per bridge in the project is $1.6 million per year. Through PennDOT’s standard process, the cost to design, construct and maintain a bridge for 28 years would be an average of more than $2 million per year.

“The goal for this project is not only finding cost savings, but also to minimize impact to the traveling public,” PennDOT Secretary Barry Schoch said. “This team has thoroughly detailed their traffic control plans and expects to finish construction eight months earlier than required.”

For more information, visit www.P3forPA.pa.gov.

Source: LVB.com