BRADENTON, Fla. — Five consortiums are interested in bidding on Georgia’s nearly $1 billion Northwest Corridor project, the Atlanta-region congestion reliever that was to have been the state’s first public-private partnership.
The Georgia Department of Transportation was close to selecting a consortium for the P3 in December when Gov. Nathan Deal halted the project, saying that the state would give up too much control for too long.
With the Republican governor’s consent, the state restarted the long-anticipated project earlier this year using a traditional design-build approach that will be publicly financed with a combination of transportation funds, a $270 million low-interest Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act federal loan, grant anticipation revenue vehicle bonds, and toll-revenue bonds.
Though the project will be publicly financed and owned, respondents to the state’s request for qualified bidders are required to provide up to $160 million in private financing that state officials have characterized as a “bridge loan.” The winning contractor will ultimately be repaid for the loan.
Firms that submitted qualifications to the state are Georgia Transportation Partners comprised of Bechtel Infrastructure Corp., Kiewit Infrastructure South Co., Dewberry and Davis LLC, and STV Inc.; Fluor-Lane LLC; CW Matthews Contracting Co. and the Michael Baker Corp.; Northwest Express Road Builders comprised of Archer Western Contractors, the Hubbard Group and Parsons Corp.; and Northwest Corridor Mobility Partners comprised of Ferrovial Agroman SA and Prince Contracting LLC.
“I am pleased that so many eminent firms from both here in Georgia and around the nation are interested in partnering with Georgia DOT on this important undertaking,” Transportation Commissioner Keith Golden said in a statement. “I think it reflects well on the merits of both the project itself and our approach to its construction.”
The 30-mile project involves adding reversible managed lanes along Interstate 75 and I-575 in Cobb and Cherokee counties, as well as extending existing high-occupancy vehicle lanes. The reversible lanes will carry traffic southbound during morning commuting hours and northbound in the afternoon and evening. Drivers will be subject to a variable-rate toll that will be based on traffic volume.
GDOT plans to develop a shortlist of firms that will be asked to submit proposals for construction in December. The proposals will be due next June, and the contractor presenting the “best value” for the design-build project will be selected in July.
Construction is expected to begin in the summer of 2014 and the project would open to traffic in the spring of 2018. The project still will be overseen by GDOT’s P3 division to expedite the work with a private firm or consortium.
Officials have said that the state still expects to achieve cost savings using the design-build approach, with the amount to be determined as the project moves through the procurement process. The project has been proposed for many years to deal with bumper-to-bumper traffic congestion in and out of Atlanta.
