Arizona selects preferred bidder for US$1.9 billion P3 project
The Arizona Department of Transportation has selected the preferred bidder for the Loop 202/South Mountain Freeway project to be be constructed as a public-private partnership (PPP) under a 30-year design, build and maintenance (DBM) contract. The project will be Arizona’s largest-ever highway project.
The South Mountain Freeway is the largest project that ADOT has issued and it is one of the last major road projects in the Maricopa Association of Governments Regional Transportation Plan. State Route 202, or Loop 202 is the beltway encompassing the eastern Phoenix, Arizona. The new 22-mile, eight lane freeway, will run from near 59th Avenue and Interstate 10 in southwest Phoenix to Loop 202-Interstate 10 interchange at the Phoenix-Chandler border.
Connect 202 Partners has been chosen to help develop the project. Key members of the development team include Fluor Enterprises Inc., Granite Construction Co. and Ames Construction Inc., with Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc. as the lead designer.
Th team beat out competition from teams led by Dragados and Kiewit.
The public-private partnership is intended to speed up the process and cost less while keeping the new freeway without tolls. Rather than being split into several smaller projects, the South Mountain Freeway will be constructed as a single project by one contracting team.
The total project investment is estimated at US$1.9 billion. ADOT, Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) and Arizona Division of the Federal Highway Administration (ADFHA) have decided to fund the project capital costs with a combination of available public funds from sales tax revenues and tax-exempt bonds.
ADOT is working on acquiring properties needed for the project. Structures on residential and commercial properties will be demolished in preparation for freeway construction.
Construction is slated for summer 2016, and the freeway is expected to open late 2019 or early 2020. Once completed, the freeway will include four lanes in each direction: three general-use lanes and one high-occupancy vehicle lane.
