Rare is the breakfast event in Fairfield County where the opening remarks don”™t include a wisecrack about that morning”™s traffic.
Kevin Nursick of the state Department of Transportation said little else can be done to alleviate rush-hour headaches on the highway. But when it comes to bridge construction, Connecticut is trying new tactics to minimize congestion, including accelerated bridge construction and alternative project delivery methods such as design-build.
“Traffic congestion goes hand in hand with the American way of life,” said Nursick, a DOT spokesman. “Quite frankly, every place with a flourishing economy has a traffic problem: the economy is moving and you”™re drawing people in.”
Yet when you”™re sitting in traffic, you”™re not moving goods and materials, Nursick said. At the same time, people aren”™t getting to their destinations, which could be business or commerce-related.
A truck sitting stationary on a bridge costs money. Therefore, the less congestion there is, the better it is for the economy, Nursick said. On highways, extra lanes can be added along the edges of the road, but on a bridge there is less space to work with.
As a result, the state is getting more creative in its delivery methods.
Accelerated bridge construction involves using both high-tech and low-tech methods to speed construction when appropriate. Workers can use precast materials now instead of having to build them on site. In other instances it can be more efficient to use weekend closings to get more workers and materials on-site to do the work in a shorter time frame.
The General Assembly recently passed legislation to allow alternative delivery methods such as design-build for DOT projects.
Design-build, a method that has been used by other Connecticut agencies and authorities for more than a decade, merges the design and construction phases for state projects.
That in turn allows contractors to work with designers during the bidding process, which makes for a more unified plan once a bid is selected by the state and helps all parties to identify potential issues earlier on.
Under design-build, contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder. Nursick said contractors have been very supportive of design-build, which is expected to save them and taxpayers more time and money.
The Connecticut DOT has yet to do a design-build project, but Nursick says he anticipates several will occur within the next couple years, especially given the state”™s aging infrastructure.
One of the first design-build projects will on Route 8 in Bridgeport and is expected to shave a year off the project. By using accelerated bridge construction techniques on that same project, the impact to travelers and commuters will be reduced from two years to just mere days.
The average age of a bridge in Connecticut is about 50 years old, meaning many are due for either reconstruction or replacement. Of the nearly 5,300 bridges in the state, about 500 are considered structurally deficient, which doesn”™t mean the bridges are at risk or unsafe, but that they are in need of maintenance.
At least 100 bridges in Fairfield County are structurally deficient, according to an analysis of DOT data by the Business Journal.
Not all projects can use accelerated bridge construction and design-build methods, but when appropriate, can they be great time savers, Nursick said. There likely won”™t be more construction projects and jobs coming as a result of the methods, just more efficiencies to get people out on the road, faster.
“I don”™t think we”™re ever going to get to the point where there is no inconvenience,” Nursick said. “It”™s not a reality. But we can find ways to make things more efficient and accelerated bridge construction and alternative project delivery methods are a part of that.”
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