PROJECT COST: $1.2 billion
Concessionaire I-595 Express is leading the largest public-private partnership�and the biggest contract overall�in the history of the Florida Dept. of Transportation: the Interstate-595 Corridor Improvement Project in Broward County.
The concessionaire�s design-build-finance-operate-maintain contract totals nearly $1.8 billion, with design and construction costs estimated at $1.2 billion.
The successful bidder for the concession was ACS Infrastructure Development, the U.S. subsidiary of Group ACS in Spain. ACS formed I-595 Express to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the 10.5-mi stretch of I-595 for 35 years.
I-595 Express selected Dragados USA of New York as design-build contractor. GLF Construction Corp. of Miami will build 17 bridges near the Turnpike interchange. RS&H of Jacksonville was in charge of preliminary drawings and now serves as the corridor design consultant. I-595 Express and Dragados� design partner AECOM Technology Corp. of Los Angeles modified the original plans.
The team will add three reversible express, variable-toll lanes at grade in the median of the existing highway, from Interstate 95 to Interstate 75. The express lanes, which will be operated as managed lanes with variable tolls to optimize traffic flow, represent about one-third of the cost of the project.
The other two-thirds of the project�s construction cost includes these major items: the connection of the SR 84 frontage road between Davie Road and State Road 7; the addition of auxiliary lanes on I-595 along with combined ramps, cross-road bypasses, and grade-separated entrance and exit ramps to minimize merge, diverge and weaving movements; widening/reconstruction of 2.5 miles of the Florida�s Turnpike mainline and improvements to the I-595/Florida�s Turnpike interchange; construction of the New River Greenway, a component of the Broward County Greenway System; and 13 sound barriers.
In all, there are 63 new, modified or replaced bridges.
Initial site preparation and clearing and grubbing began in early 2009. Work on lane construction started in late 2009.
�This is such an important corridor in Florida because I-595 connects the port, the airport, Florida�s Turnpike, I-95, I-75 and the Sawgrass Expressway,� says Joe Borello, FDOT project manager. �It has a huge economic impact with respect to traffic flow and the movement of goods.�
The corridor handles about 180,000 vehicles per day. Most work will take place in off-peak hours with lane closures limited to nighttime.
By 2011, work will take place along the entire corridor, adds Paul Lampley, I-595 construction project manager for FDOT. At peak, the team expects thousands of full-time workers will complete $1 million in work per day along the corridor.
�It has been a huge economic benefit to all of South Florida,� Lampley says.
FDOT set an 8.1% disadvantaged business enterprise goal. The project is scheduled for completion in 2014.
Key Facts:
Location: Broward County, Fla..
Owner: Florida Dept. of Transportation
Contractors: Dragados USA, New York
Engineer:AECOM Technology Corp., Los Angeles; and RS&H, Jacksonville, Fla.
Start Date: Spring 2009
Completion Date: 2014
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