3 teams to compete for Seattle’s S.R. 520 contract

The Washington State Department of Transportation has selected three design-build teams to compete for the contract to design and build a new S.R. 520 floating bridge, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

The teams are Skanska-Flatiron-Traylor Joint Venture, SR 520 Corridor Constructors (Walsh Construction Co., PCL Construction Services and Weeks Marine) and Kiewit-General-Manson Joint Venture.

The new S.R. 520 floating bridge will replace the existing floating bridge, which is vulnerable to wind storms. The new bridge will be six lanes wide, with transit/HOV lanes and a bicycle and pedestrian path and is scheduled to open to traffic in 2014.

The contract will include construction of 44 of 77 concrete pontoons needed to support the floating bridge, support columns and the new roadway. The other 33 pontoons are being construction under a separate contract awarded in January to Kiewit-General Joint Venture. The design-build contract also will include building facilities to treat storm water from the bridge before releasing it into Lake Washington.

Bids for the contract are due in spring 2011. WSDOT plans to award the contract in mid-2011, with construction starting in 2012.