Skip to main content

Southern Ohio Veterans Memorial Highway ready for construction

Construction is about to start on the first public-private partnership highway project in the US state of Ohio. The Southern Ohio Veterans Memorial Highway, near the city of Portsmouth, will cost nearly US$228 million and is scheduled for completion in 2019, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). The Portsmouth Gateway Group will build the 25.8km, four-lane limited access highway from U.S. Route 23 north of Lucasville to U.S. Route 52 near Sciotoville. An ODOT statement said tha
April 13, 2015 Read time: 3 mins
Construction is about to start on the first public-private partnership highway project in the US state of Ohio.

The Southern Ohio Veterans Memorial Highway, near the city of Portsmouth, will cost nearly US$228 million and is scheduled for completion in 2019, according to the 7272 Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT).

The Portsmouth Gateway Group will build the 25.8km, four-lane limited access highway from U.S. Route 23 north of Lucasville to U.S. Route 52 near Sciotoville.

An ODOT statement said that the project “has been in demand for decades and using innovative P3 [public-private partnership] financing allows ODOT to build it now and pay for it over 35 years, while still building other important projects around the state”.

The ODOT said the Southern Ohio Veterans Memorial Highway is the department’s “largest, modern earthwork project to date”. Construction crews will remove about 19 million cubic metres of earth and rock and place another 19 million cubic metres of embankment.

Leading the joint venture Portsmouth Gateway Group is construction contractor 4761 Dragados USA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dragados, S.A., the construction arm of the ACS Group -- Actividades de Construccion y Servicios -- based in Madrid, Spain.

Dragados USA was set up in 2005 and has won several large transportation, marine, dam and reconstruction projects. These include the $1.2 billion East Side Access project in New York City and the $1.3 billion SR 99 Seattle Bored Tunnel in the northwestern state of Washington.

Other contractors include Beaver Excavating, one of Ohio’s largest heavy civil and highway infrastructure construction companies, and Ohio-based John R. Jurgensen, a specialist interstate and roadway construction and asphalt paving business

Lead engineering firm is the Ohio-based ms consultants, supported by specialised sub-consultants TranSystems, S&ME and Portsmouth area firms.

The project’s financing is accomplished through the use of $227.36 million in tax exempt private activity bonds with another $208 million provided through a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, or TIFIA, loan from the federal government in Washington. TIFIA Loans are low-interest loans for projects of national and regional significance.

The new highway will complete the Appalachian Development Highway System in Ohio and will improve safety in and around the city of Portsmouth and Scioto County by taking heavy truck traffic off city streets, the ODOT said.

Since 2012, “ODOT has been working to develop the project as a P3, which allows ODOT to accelerate the project by decades, and the department can avoid rising project costs by taking advantage of current competitive economic conditions”.

The ODOT said the Southern Ohio Veterans Memorial Highway is the department’s “largest, modern earthwork project to date”. Construction crews will remove about 25 million cubic yards of earth and rock and place another 25 million cubic yards of embankment.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Vietnam’s Dau Giay-Phan Thiet expressway project attracts foreign investors
    August 27, 2013
    At least 15 foreign investors will attend a meeting on the construction of the Dau Giay-Phan Thiet expressway in Vietnam, according to the country’s Ministry of Transport's public-private partnership (PPP) department. The expressway will link the National Highway No 1A in Binh Thuan Province with the under-development HCM City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay expressway. Moreover, one foreign investor will be selected to partner with local company Bitexco Group to build the project. The project is valued at about
  • Tunnel Boom in Central and Eastern Europe
    September 15, 2015
    Following the success of the 41st World Tunnel Congress held in Croatia last May, World Highways looks at two signi_ cant projects in Slovakia and Serbia – Adriana Potts reports Central and Eastern Europe is buzzing with a number of major projects being developed - including highways, bridges and tunnels – and with many more in the pipeline. The region is expected to be highly active with plans for developing infrastructure in the next two decades, according to Davorin Koli , president of the Croatian
  • Innovative reinforcement for weak roads
    May 9, 2012
    An innovative solution was put forward to support slip roads on a Dutch motorway. Patrick Smith reports. The 2010 opening of the A7 motorway extension on the southern ring road of the city of Sneek, The Netherlands, brings an end to local traffic misery. By using innovative Tensar Geocell Foundation Mattress technology over weak estuarine clay, MNO-Vervat Noord, the main contractor, constructed a key junction and its slip roads in weeks instead of months, with considerable cost savings.
  • Innovative reinforcement for weak roads
    April 10, 2012
    An innovative solution was put forward to support slip roads on a Dutch motorway. Patrick Smith reports The 2010 opening of the A7 motorway extension on the southern ring road of the city of Sneek, The Netherlands, brings an end to local traffic misery. By using innovative Tensar Geocell Foundation Mattress technology over weak estuarine clay, MNO-Vervat Noord, the main contractor, constructed a key junction and its slip roads in weeks instead of months, with considerable cost savings. The conversion