Photo courtesy of TxDOT
Pegasus Link Constructors, a joint venture of Balfour Beatty and Fluor, recently put the finishing touches on the Southern Gateway Project, a $666 million Dallas highway job that widened I-35 and built additional express lanes.
If you've taken a drive through Dallas recently, you may have noticed something different about Interstate 35: it's wider.
Pegasus Link Constructors, which brought together Balfour Beatty U.S. and Fluor, an engineering and general contracting firm, in a joint-venture, recently completed the massive, $666 million endeavor known as the Southern Gateway Project.
The design-build project covered 11 mi. of highway, covering I-35E south of downtown Dallas, U.S. 67 between I-35E and I-20 and the I-35E/U.S. 67 split. The improvements included the reconstruction of reversible non-tolled express lanes that are open to all users, including SOVs (single occupancy vehicles) and HOVs (high occupancy vehicles), and general purpose lanes to improve capacity in the corridor; and building structural elements and accommodations for the city of Dallas' planned deck plaza between Ewing and Marsalis Avenues.
The purpose of the project was to improve safety issues, provide congestion relief, support traffic operations, address roadway deficiencies and improve system linkage.
Project Construction
Pegasus Link Constructors was awarded the project in fall 2017 and construction began in early 2018, with operations proceeding on a 24/7 basis.
"Crews had no major challenges that were unforeseen," said Tony Hartzel, TDOT's director of northeast Texas communications. "The job was very challenging to maintain traffic during construction while building the new roadway lanes in a tight right of way footprint. The TxDOT project team worked very closely with the Pegasus Link Constructors team, which also was the design-build contractor on the Horseshoe project in downtown Dallas that finished about five years ago. Any issues were always resolved in a timely manner. The project was completed on time, thanks to the collaboration among all parties."
The project expanded the roadway in essentially the same footprint.
"The work space was tight, but manageable," said Hartzel. "Initially, TxDOT anticipated having to acquire more than 12 acres of ROW along the project corridor. In 2015, however, the proposed ROW footprint was modified in order to limit negative construction impacts to the surrounding community. The design change reduced the additional ROW acquisition to just 3.6 acres – roughly a fourth of what was proposed in the original 2003 schematic. This meant that the contractor team had to develop a traffic control plan that would shift lanes safely and allow for all construction to be completed within this limited ROW width."
Crews built lanes out of concrete.
"All bridges were reconstructed along the I-35E portion of the project and widening of existing bridges along the U.S. 67 portion to accommodate the new lanes," said Hartzel. "All the cross street bridges on I-35E include widened sidewalks and pedestrian accommodations following the city of Dallas' complete streets plan."
The initiative was successful due to serious cooperation.
"The project resulted from extensive collaboration in the community before construction, and the success is due to the close collaboration TxDOT has with Pegasus Link Constructors," said Hartzel. "At its peak, the contractor was maintaining a locally sourced labor force of more than 600 staff and craft employees during the peak of construction and performing $10-to-15 million worth of work in a month."
"As roadway builders, Pegasus Link Constructors presence in downtown Dallas and southern Dallas County in the past decade testifies to our project team's commitment to working with our client, TxDOT and project partners to get the job done, on time and within budget," said Daniel Young, Pegasus' director of construction. "PLC was able to push through during challenging times and consistently maintain a locally sourced labor force and craft employees during the peak of construction and eventually cross the much-anticipated finish line."
Leon Blondin, Balfour Beatty U.S.' s CEO, is proud of his company's contribution.
"Congratulations to the Balfour Beatty project team and joint venture partners in providing a long-term, transformative highway solution for one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the nation," he said. "The completion of the Southern Gateway is just another example of our team's expertise in delivering complex construction projects across the country and our ongoing commitment to achieving our client's, stakeholders and local communities' transportation."
Thomas Nilsson, president of infrastructure business of Fluor, was in agreement.
"This is one of the many vital infrastructure projects to improve the I-35 corridor in Dallas in response to business and population expansion in one of the country's most dynamic regions," he said. "The reconstruction provides traffic congestion relief, improved safety and increased mobility. This project builds on Fluor's history of successfully delivering vital infrastructure in Texas and reinforces the strength of our commitment to our state and local partners."
Prior to the construction, TxDOT estimated that approximately 192,000 vehicles traveled through southern Dallas County daily.
"I-35E in the Southern Gateway corridor is consistently ranked as one of the most congested roadways in Texas according to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute," states the project web page.
The construction impacted traffic as I-35E and U.S. 67 are both major corridors to and from southern Dallas County and surrounding cities, but through careful planning, TxDOT kept disruptions to a minimum.
Clear Lanes Initiative
The Texas Clear Lanes program was initiated to reduce congestion throughout the state by focusing planning and construction efforts on the Top 100 Most Congested Roads in major metropolitan areas of Dallas, Ft. Worth, Austin, San Antonio and Houston. Funding for it was approved in 2014 and 2015 by Texas voters.
Thus far $61.3 billion in projects have been completed, are under construction, and in the planning stage.
"More than a dozen projects have been completed statewide, and The Southern Gateway is the fifth North Texas project to be completed," states the press release. "The region has completed $1.2 billion in projects to date, with another $5.1 billion under construction and $3.3 billion in planning."
State Sen. Royce West is very pleased that Southern Gateway is now a reality.
"The Southern Gateway illustrates how a highway project can help reconnect and enhance communities," he said. "Planning for this project began more than a decade ago, and I appreciate the opportunity to have guided TxDOT's effort to give the community and stakeholders a voice on the final vision that we see today. This project, which finished on time and on budget, will serve southern Dallas well for decades to come."
Irwin Rapoport
A journalist who started his career at a weekly community newspaper, Irwin Rapoport has written about construction and architecture for more than 15 years, as well as a variety of other subjects, such as recycling, environmental issues, business supply chains, property development, pulp and paper, agriculture, solar power and energy, and education. Getting the story right and illustrating the hard work and professionalism that goes into completing road, bridge, and building projects is important to him. A key element of his construction articles is to provide readers with an opportunity to see how general contractors and departments of transportation complete their projects and address challenges so that lessons learned can be shared with a wider audience.
Rapoport has a BA in History and a Minor in Political Science from Concordia University. His hobbies include hiking, birding, cycling, reading, going to concerts and plays, hanging out with friends and family, and architecture. He is keen to one day write an MA thesis on military and economic planning by the Great Powers prior to the start of the First World War.
Read more from Irwin Rapoport here.
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