PennDOT Selects Team for Major Bridge P3 Initiative
Harrisburg, PA – PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian announced today that Bridging Pennsylvania Partners (BPP) was selected as the Apparent Best Value Proposer to administer the Major Bridge Public-Private Partnership (P3) initiative to repair or replace up to nine bridges across the state. The department and BPP will now enter into a pre-development agreement to finalize the design and packaging of the bridges to be built, financed, and maintained.
BPP is comprised of the following firms, including six companies headquartered in Pennsylvania:
- Macquarie Infrastructure Developments LLC;
- Shikun & Binui Concessions USA Inc;
- STV Incorporated (Douglassville);
- FCC Construccion, S.A.;
- Shikun & Binui – America, Inc (Pittsburgh);
- SAI Consulting Engineers, Inc.(Lemoyne);
- Wagman Heavy Civil, Inc. (York);
- Joseph B. Fay Company (Pittsburgh); and
- H&K Group Inc. (Skippack).
"I am proud that we have reached this critical milestone," said Gramian. "Selecting a team brings us one step closer to delivering these important improvements to our infrastructure."
BPP was selected based on criteria including experience and technical approach to carry out the project; their relevant experience and qualifications of key personnel; their investment and financial experience; and their overall understanding of the project and their approach to deliver all project requirements.
The initiative includes the rehabilitation or replacement of select bridges – grouped in packages – and all associated infrastructure investments associated with that specific bridge, including roadway and approach work, improvements to nearby impacted roadways and associated tolling infrastructure, such as gantry structures and toll buildings for each bridge.
The department continues to conduct public involvement and environmental reviews on the nine candidate bridges announced for consideration in February 2021.
The first package of bridges, which will include only bridges that have completed the environmental process, is scheduled to be under contract by December 2022, at which time final design will begin, with construction expected to begin between fall 2023 and spring 2024. Bridges in subsequent packages will take longer to design and construct.
The BPP team members have a total of 21 Pennsylvania offices and over 2,500 Pennsylvania-based employees. All construction work is mandated to be performed by contractors prequalified for work in Pennsylvania, and at least 65 percent of the construction work will be subcontracted, providing opportunities for Pennsylvania contractors, suppliers and vendors. Additionally, the pre-development agreement phase includes a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise – such as women and minority owned businesses – goal of 13.05 percent, with additional opportunities in future phases of the project.
The Major Bridge P3 initiative was approved by the state's P3 Board, which includes appointees from all four legislative caucuses, on Nov. 12, 2020. The initiative is designed to raise revenue through tolling to address the state's growing backlog of major bridge replacement and rehabilitation needs. Bridge tolling can provide the funds to repair or replace these costly bridges without using PennDOT's current funding, which in turn allows those funds to be used for other roadway maintenance, operations, and improvements.
Since the project approval, PennDOT has hosted three industry forums to educate potential, private-sector stakeholders on the scope and requirements. This is in addition to public outreach being conducted for the PennDOT Pathways transportation funding initiative, National Environmental Policy Act requirements for each candidate bridge, and varied legislative and stakeholder engagement.
As part of that outreach, to date PennDOT has completed online and in-person public meetings for seven of the nine bridges being considered for tolling under the Major Bridge P3 initiative: I-83 South Bridge, I-78 Lenhartsville, I-81 Susquehanna and the four I-80 bridges at Canoe Creek, North Fork, Lehigh River and Nescopeck Creek. In total, there were more than 180,000 unique visitors to the public meeting websites, 968 comments received, and 404 in-person open house attendees during the comment periods.
The public can sign up for the monthly PennDOT Pathways newsletter online for updates on this project and other transportation-funding topics.
Act 88 of 2012, the state's transportation P3 law, allows PennDOT and other state agencies, transportation authorities and commissions to partner with private companies to participate in delivering, maintaining and financing transportation-related projects. The law created the seven-member Public Private Transportation Partnership Board, appointed to examine and approve potential public-private transportation projects. Upon board approval, the department or appropriate transportation agency can advertise a competitive RFP and enter into a contract with a company to completely or partially deliver the transportation-related service or project.
To learn more about P3 in Pennsylvania, visit www.P3.pa.gov.
Subscribe to statewide PennDOT news and traffic alerts at www.penndot.pa.gov/news or choose a region under "Regional Offices." Information about the state's infrastructure and results the department is delivering for Pennsylvanians can be found at www.penndot.pa.gov/results. Find PennDOT's planned and active construction projects at www.projects.penndot.gov.
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MEDIA CONTACT: Alexis Campbell, alecampbel@pa.gov, 717-783-8800
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