TxDOT State Highway 130 Design-Build

Fluor, as the lead partner of Lone Star Infrastructure (LSI) consortium, served as the general contractor of the State Highway (SH) 130 Design-Build-Maintain Project. The 49-mile toll highway (Segments 1-4) is located in Texas east of I-35 through Williamson and Travis counties, extending from I-35 north of Georgetown to U.S. 183 southeast of Austin.

The SH 130 contract included construction and maintenance, with 4 toll plazas, 29 exit ramps, and 119 bridges.

Client's Challenge

The Texas Turnpike Authority of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) had a need to relieve congestion on I-35 and other major roadways in the Austin / San Antonio corridor.

Fluor's Solution

The LSI consortium was composed Fluor, Balfour Beatty Construction, and T. J. Lambrecht Construction. The preliminary design for the corridor included either two or three lanes of travel in each direction. The alignment and proposed median width were designed to accommodate future transportation needs such as general multipurpose lanes, high occupancy vehicle (HOV) facilities, and light rail transit.

SH 130 was the first state highway project in Texas built under an Exclusive Development Agreement (EDA) that allowed the state to hire one consortium to perform all the work on a project.

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The SH 130 contract included construction and 15 years of maintenance, with 4 toll plazas, 29 exit ramps, and 119 bridges. Right-of-way acquisitions and utility relocation were included in the contract. Construction included five interchanges, 30 million cubic yards of earthwork, 1.7 million tons of asphalt paving, 2.7 million tons of concrete paving, 350,000 square feet of steel bridges, and 5 million square feet of concrete bridges.

Conclusion

Forty miles of SH 130 opened in the fall of 2006, nearly a year before its expected opening.

The Fluor-led team exceeded stated goals for inclusion of small business firms in the contract. The project achieved a design participation rate of 18.1 percent (goal of 12.7 percent) and awarded contracts valued at $23.3 million (goal of $19.2 million). In construction, the Fluor-led team awarded small businesses 20.5 percent of contracts (goal of 12.7 percent) valued at $178 million (goal of $105 million).

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) recognized the Fluor team at the Clean Texas / Cleaner World conference for the team's implementation of an Environmental Management System (EMS) and granted Gold Member status in CLEAN TEXAS. TCEQ's One of Clean Texas / Cleaner World's coordinators said, “This active leadership role in Clean Texas / Cleaner World shows that LSI is taking a stand on environmental issues like no other highway developer ever has.”