183 South Expressway

A Fluor-led consortium, Colorado River Constructors, has started design and construction on a $581 million infrastructure project in Austin, Texas. The project will expand an approximately eight-mile stretch of highway from U.S. 290 to the southern terminus near the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (State Highway 71) into a six-lane superhighway. Colorado River Constructors is comprised of Fluor and Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Inc., two leading companies in the development of transportation projects.

The completed roadway will have six tolled main lanes and four to six non-tolled general purpose lanes (two to three in each direction). The 183 South Project will also add capacity to one of Austin's most important arterial roadways, which serves more than 60,000 vehicles a day.

The 183 South Project is the region's largest roadway construction project by the Central Texas Mobility Authority (Mobility Authority). The Fluor and Balfour Beatty team previously completed the 49-mile long State Highway 130, Segments 1-4, just east of Austin.

The Fluor-led Lone Star Infrastructure consortium completed this first ever TxDOT design-build tollway project in 2008, which has provided much needed mobility to Central Texas. The 183 South Project signifies a major step forward in continuing a comprehensive regional transportation system that offers greater mobility, reliable travel times and improved access to affordable housing.

Client's Challenge

The Mobility Authority awarded the four-year design-build 183 South contract to Colorado River Constructors. The 183 South Project is located in a congested urban corridor and entirely within Travis County. When finished, the roadway will have six tolled main lanes and four to six non-tolled general purpose lanes. Tolling of the main lanes will be just south of Springdale/Manor Road and end just south of Thompson Lane. Tolling will only occur for added capacity, and at a minimum, the same amount of non-tolled capacity that currently exists will be maintained within the corridor.

The project will provide grade separated interchanges at Springdale/Manor Road, Loyola Lane, MLK Boulevard, Montopolis Drive and Patton Avenue; bridges are proposed at Little Walnut Creek, Boggy Creek and the Colorado River; and collector distributor ramps are proposed at MLK Boulevard. The Project is also adding two direct connect flyovers that will link eastbound SH 71 to northbound 183 South and southbound 183 South to westbound SH 71. A new five-foot bike lane will be added to the general purpose roads on each side of the project to provide improved access for cyclists. In addition, a 10-foot shared use path and a 6-foot to10-foot sidewalk will be constructed as part of the Project.

Fluor's Solution

The Fluor-led consortium will utilize lane closures during construction that will generally be limited to overnight hours. The consortium will relocate numerous utilities and build new general purpose roads first, transfer traffic to the new roads and then build the toll lanes in the center. The project will create free-flowing general purpose lanes with added U-turns by eliminating five crossings along U.S. 183: at East 51st Street, Techni Center Drive, Bolm Road, Vargas Road and Thompson Lane.

Fluor is using a self-perform construction approach for the 183 South Project and has achieved 320,000 safe work hours through June 2016. Approximately 650 construction workers will staff the project at peak.

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Conclusion

Construction is expected to complete in 2020 after the first phase on the north end, from U.S. 290 to Boggy Creek, opens in 2019. Initially, it will cost approximately $3 to drive the length of the tollway.