Skip to main content

JMT and Parsons get a Nice Bridge contract in the US state of Maryland

In the US state of Maryland, a joint venture of Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson (JMT) and Parsons Brinckerhoff has won a contract to replace the Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge. The Maryland Transportation Authority awarded the $1 billion contract to replace the bridge, also known as the Potomac River Bridge and which was opened in 1940. The tolled 2.7km two-lane continuous truss bridge on US 301 spans the Potomac River between Newburg in Maryland and Dahlgren in the state of Virginia. Construction of the
July 7, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
RSSIn the US state of Maryland, a joint venture of Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson (1309 JMT) and 2693 Parsons Brinckerhoff has won a contract to replace the Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge.

The Maryland Transportation Authority awarded the $1 billion contract to replace the bridge, also known as the Potomac River Bridge and which was opened in 1940. The tolled 2.7km two-lane continuous truss bridge on US 301 spans the Potomac River between Newburg in Maryland and Dahlgren in the state of Virginia.

Construction of the new bridge is expected to start between 2020-2025, with completion within five years.

The JMT/Parsons Brinckerhoff joint venture will provide comprehensive programme management for preliminary engineering, final design and construction management and inspection.

Work includes determining bridge type - cable-stayed, concrete segmental or other – and project delivery method. A tolling study will be conducted to determine optimal toll operations and a study will be done focusing on financial and funding analyses as well as risk, financial and project management plans.

The old bridge is narrow, with both lanes only 3.4 m wide and with no shoulders. It is also steep with a gradient of nearly 4%. Traffic bottlenecks occur because the approach roads on either side are four-lane, resulting in slow traffic as it merges down to the bridge’s two lanes.

A 2012 planning phase report by the Maryland’s Transportation Authority said a new bridge will provide four 3.6m lanes, two 1.2m inside shoulders, two 3.6m outside shoulders, a median barrier to separate opposing flows and a single barrier-separated, two-way bicycle/pedestrian path.

The new bridge will be built beside the old bridge which would be demolished, the report concluded.

WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff is as global engineering consultancy employing around 32,000 people in 39 countries.

Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson, founded in 1971, is an employee-owned firm providing engineering, architectural and related services to clients in the United States. JMT has more than 1,100 professionals working on projects in the transportation, buildings & facilities, water/wastewater, energy, Federal and information technology sectors.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Germany builds its first major PPI autobahn project
    July 7, 2015
    Rebuilding of one of the oldest motorways in Germany is testing out the possibilities for public-private project road construction reports Adrian Greeman A freshly renovated section of the A8 Autobahn in southern Germany will be watched with some interest this summer as traffic begins driving along its rebuilt carriageway and additional third lanes. That is not because of any special road features, other than a distinctive reddish colour to its concrete surface, but because it is a first fullscale public
  • Many US bridges need repairs according to ARTBA analysis
    February 15, 2017
    Nearly 56,000 bridges in the US are listed as structurally deficient List, according to new analysis of Federal Data by American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). An analysis of the US Department of Transportation’s (US DOT) recently-released 2016 National Bridge Inventory data finds cars, trucks and school buses cross the nation’s 55,710 structurally compromised bridges 185 million times/day. About 1,900 are on the Interstate Highway System. State transportation departments have identifie
  • State-of-the art road tunnels in construction and use of ITS
    April 25, 2013
    A wealth of major road tunnel construction projects and significant cant ITS installations within existing key road tunnels have been recently completed or will soon be underway. Guy Woodford examines some of them. A state-of-the art Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) - the 10th largest ever to be built worldwide will be put to work later this year on New Zealand Transport Agency’s landmark Waterview Connection project in Auckland. The giant Herrenknecht-manufactured machine will be used to construct the twin 2.5
  • Mott MacDonald to design highway improvements in Czech Republic
    August 6, 2015
    Mott MacDonald has been appointed by the Road and Motorway Directorate of the Czech Republic to design sections of the R35 and R55 expressways. R35 connects the Bohemia and Moravia regions and runs parallel to the D1 motorway, the longest in the country. Mott MacDonald will design a 5.8km section of the expressway, including three bridges, two interchanges, two roundabouts, four overpasses and one railway viaduct. One watercourse will also be relocated as part of the scheme.