OLYMPIA – The Washington State Department of Transportation announced today that Kiewit-General Joint Venture has submitted the apparent best price and technical proposal for building new State Route 520 floating bridge concrete pontoons in Grays Harbor County.
The contractor team will:
• Design and build a new pontoon construction facility in Grays Harbor County – scheduled to begin in late 2010.
• Design and construct 33 new floating bridge pontoons.
• Store pontoons until they are needed for the SR 520 floating bridge.
“This winter’s weather is an important reminder that the SR 520 floating bridge is a vulnerable structure,” said Julie Meredith, WSDOT’s SR 520 Program Director. “Building these pontoons prepares WSDOT and the region to respond to a catastrophic failure of the SR 520 floating bridge.”
The pontoon construction project is one project under way to replace the SR 520 floating bridge. The state Legislature has authorized approximately $2 billion out of a $4.65 billion budget using a combination of state and federal funding and future SR 520 toll revenue. Tolling is scheduled to begin in spring 2011 and toll rates will be set by the state Transportation Commission in 2010.
In August, WSDOT identified the 55-acre Aberdeen Log Yard as the preferred site for the Grays Harbor area pontoon casting facility. Environmental review of the log yard site and the alternate 90-acre Anderson & Middleton site in Hoquiam is scheduled to be completed in 2010. After environmental review is completed and permits obtained, construction of the pontoon casting facility can begin. By the end of 2012, the first wave of the 33 pontoons will be constructed at the facility.
More details about the SR 520 program are online at www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/sr520bridge.
Maps, graphics and other details about the SR 520 pontoon construction project are online at www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/sr520/pontoons.