The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation finalized all terms for the $899 million Rapid Bridge Replacement P3 and signed a contract with the Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners on Monday, clearing the way for the replacement of 558 bridges throughout the state.
PennDOT selected Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners and its team of 11 Pennsylvania-based subcontractors in October.
“The Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners team has already begun preparing for construction of these bridges,” Barry Schoch, PennDOT Secretary, said in a release. “This is an important milestone in the state’s most ambitious public-private partnership initiative to date.”
PennDOT expects to realize considerable savings and will expedite the project’s completion under the P3. The average cost per bridge for design, construction and maintenance will be $1.6 million and will include 25 years of maintenance following construction. Under PennDOT’s normal procurement process, the cost for each bridge would average more than $2 million.
Twenty-three percent of all the bridges in the state are structurally deficient, and many need to be replaced, the highest percentage in the nation. In their 2014 report card for state infrastructure, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the bridges in Pennsylvania a grade of D+, noting the current state of its infrastructure was constraining economic growth in the state.
January 12, 2015