The US$65.5 million contract for the second phase of the I-85 corridor improvement project has been awarded to a joint venture of Balfour Beatty Infrastructure and Austin Bridge & Road. State governor Bev Perdue announced the award of the contract while visiting the site of the new bridges over the Yadkin River being built under the first phase of the project. The design and build contract for the bridges had been awarded in October 2010 to Flatiron Constructors and Lane Construction at a value of US$136 million. It was not the lowest bidder, but its proposal was deemed the best value. North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) had budgeted US$180 million.
Balfour Beatty and Austin plan to complete their project five months early as well as offering an extended guarantee. NCDOT required a one-year guarantee on the work done for the project but the contractor has agreed to stand by its work for five years.
The contractor plans to reduce the amount of construction-related traffic by building ramps from two bridges onto the I-85 median. Using these ramps to transport materials will eliminate about 13,000 truckloads from the highway. The joint venture has also included in the contract self-imposed fines ranging from US$1,000 to US$2,000 per day for missing major project milestones.
