Infrastructure Projects

Population growth and a surging economy are pushing more highway construction, including new toll lanes. In Fort Worth, the $1.28-billion North Tarrant Express I-35W Segment 3A is expected to be complete in September 2018. Funded through a public-private partnership agreement, the 6.5-mile, design-build project is a joint venture of Ferrovial Agroman US Corp., Austin, and Webber LLC, Houston.

In Caddo Parish, North Shreveport, the I-49 North Segment K project includes a $31.5-million first phase and a $137.7-million second phase. The segment will connect interstate LA-1 to I-220, providing the final link of I-49 North to I-49 South. The general contractor, Tampa's PCL Civil Constructors Inc., is expected to complete the roadway by summer 2017.

After Katrina, flood protection remains a priority across the region. The Florida Avenue Canal Widening—called SELA, or the Southeast Louisiana Drainage Project 26, Phase IV—will improve drainage in the Upper Ninth Ward of Orleans Parish when it comes on line in 2018. The final contract cost is $157.3 million.

In Ellis County, Texas, the $149.6-million Integrated Pipeline & Midlothian Balancing Reservoir is a joint project of Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) and the city of Dallas. The 350-million-gallon-per-day system is designed to deliver permitted water from Cedar Creek Lake, Lake Palestine and Richland-Chambers Reservoir to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

When completed, the project could save the more than 4 million people it serves $500 million in construction costs and more than $1 billion in water costs during the life of the project, says Jim Oliver, TRWD general manager.

Other Sectors

In College Station, Texas, the $485-million Kyle Field Stadium Redevelopment Phase 2 will debut on Sept. 12 for Texas A&M's home season opener. A joint venture of Manhattan Construction Co., Dallas, and Vaughn Construction, Houston, the fast-track project includes both renovations and new construction, such as increasing seating capacity to 102,512, making it the largest football stadium in the Southeast Conference.

The largest of three projects at the University of Texas, Austin, is the $176-million Robert B. Rowling Hall at the McCombs School of Business. It will provide new classrooms and other academic spaces when it opens in May 2017.

The $1.5-billion, 300-acre TPCO Phase 2 Pipe Rolling & Finishing Mill near Corpus Christi, Texas, includes a 1.6-million-sq-ft steel processing plant that will meld scrap steel and hot metal into 500,000 metric tons of seamless steel pipe annually.