UK-headquartered Balfour Beatty has won a $746m contract from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to upgrade part of the Interstate 35 (I-35) through Austin, Texas.
It will rebuild around 2.5 miles of the route on the city’s south side to provide eight general purpose lanes, a major new intersection, and upgraded access roads.
Set to finish in 2033, the contract is part of TxDOT’s $5.6bn Capital Express Central project to improve traffic on the I-35 through Austin.
It’s one of the country’s most congested roads, carrying some 200,000 vehicles a day.
“It serves as the backbone of our local, regional and national transportation network, and lack of mobility on I-35 is threatening the economic livelihood of our community and our state,” TxDOT said.
The work includes building a new bridge over the 416-acre Lady Bird Lake on the Colorado River to replace the existing bridge built in 1956.
On this element, Balfour Beatty will have to work from a barge, which it said required “complex engineering and marine expertise”.
The company’s US Civils chief operating officer Mark Johnnie said they’d bring in “specialised overwater bridge replacement capabilities from another region.”
A new intersection at Riverside Drive will accommodate a future light railway.
Main construction starts in the first half of 2025. At peak, the project will employ around 150 people.
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