The Illinois Tollway Board of Directors recently approved six new construction and professional engineering service contracts totaling nearly $228.7 million at its April meeting, including a $184.6 million contract to reconstruct the northbound Mile Long Bridge on the Tri-State Tollway (I-294)—the largest construction contract ever awarded by the agency.
Nearly $375.9 million in construction and professional engineering services contracts have been approved by the Tollway Board in 2019, as part of the eighth year of the Tollway’s 15-year, $14 billion capital program, Move Illinois: The Illinois Tollway Driving the Future.
To date, nearly $6.7 billion has been invested by the Illinois Tollway since the Move Illinois Program began in 2012, with more than $1.9 billion of that total committed to small, diverse and veteran-owned firms. In addition, the capital program has created or sustained an estimated 68,070 total jobs as of March 2019.
The Mile Long Bridge construction contract approved by the Tollway Board is the first of two construction contracts for work to remove and rebuild the twin bridge structures carrying northbound and southbound traffic as part of the $4 billion Central Tri-State Tollway (I-294) Project. Construction scheduled for 2019 to 2023 will maintain access for customers with four lanes in each direction throughout the project. The contract for the Mile Long Bridge was awarded to Chicago-based F.H. Paschen S.N. Nielsen & Associates
Originally constructed in 1958, the Mile Long Bridge is a critical piece of infrastructure to I-294 as it carries drivers over two major railroads, three water resources and local roads, and over a major distribution center for UPS and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway. Up to 150,000 vehicles travel on the Mile Long Bridge daily.
The contracts approved include one prime consultant, 12 sub-consultants, one prime contractor and 28 subcontractors that are certified as disadvantaged, minority- and women-owned business enterprise (D/M/WBE) firms, and two sub-consultants as well as four subcontractors that are certified veteran-owned firms. Commitments for D/M/WBE participation range from 18% to 75% per contract, and commitments for veteran participation range from 0.6% to 5% per contract.
----------
Source: Illinois Tollway
