Client
Ministry of Finance, Province of Noord Brabant
Location
Den Bosch, The Netherlands

Province Noord Brabant A59 Freeway Upgrade - Program Management

Fluor was the lead company in the Poort van Den Bosch consortium, selected by the Dutch Government to design and build, as well as finance, the upgrade of the N59 state highway into the A59 Freeway, a 6-mile route near the city of Den Bosch.

Member firms in the Poort van Den Bosch partnership included Royal BAM Group, Boskalis, and Fluor. ING Bank, financial adviser to the consortium, and the Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten raised the required financing for construction.


Client's Challenge

This $206-million highway upgrade was the first road project in the Netherlands procured under a public-private partnership (PPP).

The 18-year PPP agreement included a 3-year period for design and construction and a 15-year maintenance period.

By using the PPP contract approach, the Province of North-Brabant accelerated the project schedule by 5 years over the original plan. In addition, with the Design-Build, Finance, and Maintenance contract approach, project costs were 14 percent lower than the costs of a traditional design-bid-build contracting process.


Fluor's Solution

Fluor provided program management services for the A59 Freeway Upgrade.

The upgrade included the design-build of all bridges, adjacent parallel roads, bicycle lanes, exit and access lanes, noise barrier systems, and traffic control infrastructure.

Existing at-grade crossings were replaced with either viaducts or underpasses. At ground level, the intersections combined a traffic circle with a freeway underpass.
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Conclusion

The A59 Freeway Upgrade was the first road project in The Netherlands to use the PPP contract approach.

A59 relieves long-term congestion, improves safety, and alleviates prior motorists' tendencies to shortcut through residential areas to avoid traffic.

The Poort van Den Bosch consortium completed the project one month ahead of schedule and under budget.