Texas DoT awards Atkins major contract

The 3499 Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has awarded 3005 Atkins a major, six-year contract worth US$25 million. This will cover right-of-way (ROW) oversight, compliance review, and utility coordination services for transportation-related public-private partnership projects in the state. The deal calls for Atkins to serve as TxDOT’s management consultant, overseeing projects being hand;ed under development agreements, design-build contracts, and other delivery methods. Atkins has worked with TxDOT on a wide range of previous ROW projects, including a 2008 contract valued at $7 million and a 2012 contract valued at $18 million. Atkins has played a key role in four of TxDOT’s largest highway projects, which are helping to relieve traffic congestion on some of the state’s most heavily travelled highways. These are the DFW Connector project near the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) International airport; $1 billion total project cost. The North Tarrant Express project in the Dallas/Fort Worth area; a $2.5 billion project. The I-35E project linking the cities of Denton and Dallas; a $1.1 billion project. And the Grand Parkway/State Highway 99 (SH 99) project; a partially completed, 11-segment, $1.2 billion, tolled outer beltway under construction around Houston. Under the new contract, Atkins could work on several projects. These include the $850 million project to replace the Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge, constructing managed lanes on SH 288 in Harris County (Houston area), worth some $585 million, and constructing Grand Parkway Segments H and I-1.