By the end of next summer, motorists traveling Interstate 70 through Columbia will enjoy a better, safer ride over the bridges at Business Loop 70/West Boulevard, Garth Avenue and Missouri Route 763/Rangeline Street.
Missouri Department of Transportation officials today announced Columbia, Mo.-based contractor Emery Sapp and Sons will design and build the $18 million project to replace the bridges, which carry an average of about 80,000 vehicles a day. All of the bridges were built in 1957 and are in poor condition, but safe for travel.
Sapp, along with partner Parsons Transportation Group, was one of four design-build teams competing for the contract. Design-build is a project delivery method that combines both the design and construction phases into one contract to save time and resources.
Under the design-build process, the competing teams were given the project budget and asked to provide design and construction proposals within the set amount of money. The process was designed to foster innovative and cost-effective ideas for delivering the project, which is critical given the state's insufficient funding for transportation.
"The design-build method has proven to provide great value to Missouri taxpayers on this complex bridge replacement project," said Travis Koestner, assistant district engineer for MoDOT's Central District. "All of the design-build teams submitted excellent proposals, but Sapp's stood out because they offered the most aggressive schedule to minimize traffic impacts on I-70. They also offered additional improvements at West Boulevard and Rangeline that will improve traffic flow through the two interchanges."
Sapp's proposal calls for several of the new bridges to be built next to the existing structures and then slid into place to minimize closures on I-70 and affected city streets. I-70 will remain open to two lanes of traffic in each direction at all times during construction except for a few temporary evening lane closures.
Closures will be limited to 30 days at Rangeline and 20 days at Garth Avenue, with many of these closures happening at night and not affecting daytime commutes. The intersections at West Boulevard and Business Loop 70 will be closed a total of 45 days, while Creasy Springs and the South I-70 Outer Road will be closed for approximately 15 days and 30 days, respectively.
The extras include building new roundabouts at Rangeline and on the north and south sides of I-70 at the Business Loop 70/West Boulevard interchange to move traffic better and faster.
"We're proud to have been selected to build this important project, which will improve safety and traffic flow through our hometown of Columbia," said Chip Jones, Emery Sapp and Sons' project manager for the bridge replacement project. "We know our work will impact not only local folks who travel in the area, but all motorists who cross our great state on Interstate 70. We're committed to building a quality project at a good value in as short amount of time as possible."
The Sapp and Parsons team will subcontract 12 percent of the construction and 15 percent of the professional and design activities to Disadvantaged Business Enterprise companies. Federal workforce goals also require that 6.3 percent of those working on the project are minorities and 6.9 percent are female.
Sapp plans to begin construction in late summer and complete the project by Aug. 31, 2016.
The next step in the design-build process is for Sapp to fine-tune its design plans. When those are complete, MoDOT will hold a public meeting to share the final scope of work.
The project is part of MoDOT's focus on maintaining the state's existing roads and bridges given a declining budget that will prevent the state from matching federal funds in 2017. Missouri's 325 Plan calls for MoDOT to maintain only 8,000 of the state's 34,000-mile road system in good condition.
For more information on the project, visit www.modot.org/ColumbiaBridges. For more information on design-build at MoDOT, visit http://www.modot.org/business/consultant_resources/DesignBuildInformation.htm.
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