Skip to main content

IRF awards Parsons for its East End Crossing work in the US

The International Road Federation (IRF) has awarded its Global Road Achievement Award for project finance and economics to Parsons for the East End Crossing of the Ohio River Bridges Project. Parsons, which served as the technical advisor for the implementation of a public-private partnership (PPP), received the award for achievements in cost savings and accelerated project delivery. This was done through the PPP procurement process for the development, design, construction, financing, operation and m
August 7, 2015 Read time: 3 mins
East End Crossing Bridge (artist impression)
The International Road Federation (IRF) has awarded its Global Road Achievement Award for project finance and economics to 3220 Parsons for the East End Crossing of the Ohio River Bridges Project.

Parsons, which served as the technical advisor for the implementation of a public-private partnership (PPP), received the award for achievements in cost savings and accelerated project delivery.

This was done through the PPP procurement process for the development, design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of the cable-stayed bridge, the Indiana state approach and a portion of the Kentucky state approach.

The IRF, a non-government, not-for-profit membership organisation in Washington, DC, encourages and promotes development and maintenance of better, safer and more sustainable roads and road networks around the world.
 
A statement from Parsons noted that the P3 East End Crossing project will save $228 million in construction costs over the original estimate and will be completed, on an accelerated schedule, 242 days prior to the Indiana Finance Authority’s (IFA’s) timeline in its Request for Proposal.

In addition, the project will be completed eight years sooner than what would be likely under a traditional design-bid-build method of project delivery. At $677 million, the project finance plan includes the largest issuance to date of private activity bonds for a transportation P3 project.

“The East End Crossing is a ground-breaking P3 project within the Louisville-Southern Indiana region and a major part of the project’s success was the coordination among all of the stakeholders, including other contractors, state transportation agencies and the public,” said Todd Wager, Parsons group president.

“We’re proud to partner once again with 2855 Indiana Department of Transportation and IFA and help achieve this P3 procurement in less than 13 months from start to financial close. It’s a rare achievement for a transportation procurement of this size,” he said.
 
The Ohio River Bridges project involves the design and construction of two bridges – the East End Crossing and the Downtown Crossing -- over the Ohio River to connect the states of Kentucky and Indiana in the Louisville-Southern Indiana metropolitan area. It also involves more than 100 highway bridges, a 518m hard-rock tunnel and over 100 right-of-way acquisitions.

The East End Crossing, being built by the Indiana Department of Transportation, will connect Prospect, a neighbourhood of the city Louisville in Kentucky state, and the town of Utica, in Indiana state. The bridge will complete a highway loop around the Louisville-Southern Indiana metropolitan area. The East End Crossing and another crossing, the Downtown Crossing, are expected to be substantially completed by the end of 2016, according to Parsons.

The Downtown Crossing, being built by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, will increase capacity and improve safety on the existing I-65 crossing between downtown Louisville and the city of Jeffersonville in Indiana.

Parsons is currently providing an engineering technical team and construction management for the East End Crossing. In addition, Parsons was recently named tolling system advisor for the Ohio River Bridges Project. The company will oversee the toll system integrator and toll operator and advise on toll implementation policy and marketing services to Kentucky and Indiana states.

When finished, the two Ohio River bridges and the adjacent Kennedy Memorial Bridge will feature an all-electronic toll open-road collection system.
 
Parsons and The Ohio River Bridges Project were also recognised by the IRF in 2009 with the Global Road Achievement Award for programme management.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • IRF Announces Winners of 2017 Global Road Achievement Awards
    February 8, 2018
    The International Road Federation has announced the winners of the 2017 IRF Global Road Achievement Awards at the closing of the IRF Middle East & North Africa Regional Congress & Exhibition. This year, the IRF honours 11 projects from around the world, each leading the way in innovation across major road and highway disciplines. The selection was made by an international panel of senior road development specialists.
  • New Zealand road tunnel project wins IRF award
    January 18, 2013
    The Victoria Park Tunnel project in New Zealand has won an international award for construction methodology. The Victoria Park Alliance was presented with the 2012 International Road Federation (IRF) Global Road Achievement Award for Construction Methodology for the Victoria Park Tunnel project at an event in Washington, DC. The Alliance comprises the New Zealand Transport Agency, Fletcher Construction, Beca, Higgins Contractors and Parsons Brinckerhoff. Parsons Brinckerhoff was involved in concept design f
  • Bentley’s Be Inspired Awards highlight innovation in software use
    January 6, 2015
    Innovation, from design to on-site execution, is alive and well, thanks to a good helping of software application. David Arminas reports from software developer Bentley’s annual global conference, held this year in London Successful project delivery is increasingly about hard men and women using software to get the job done and this year’s global conference in London by US-based software developer Bentley highlighted some innovative - and startling - examples. As usual, the Year in Infrastructure 2014
  • Earth Day inauguration for US animal crossing
    April 22, 2022
    Construction starts today, Earth Day, on the 67m-long Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing at Liberty Canyon in the US state of California and which will be the biggest in the world .