BRIDGE

Project teams from MoDOT, HNTB
and Clarkson Construction co-located
in one office from project start to
completion to ensure work stayed
on or ahead of schedule.
“We got more for our money going through this process.
By leaving it up to the design-build team to come up with
innovations, we got more capacity, improved safety and
greater durability within the schedule and the budget —
all with minimal impact to the public.”
— SUSAN BARRY
I-70 MANCHESTER BRIDGE PROJECT DIRECTOR
MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
project we could deliver to MoDOT, and it showed throughout the
process and in the end product.”
As part of the RFP, MoDOT required proposers to estimate the
number of lane closures that would be required to build the bridge.
“MoDOT management wanted no impact to traffic on I-70 during
peak hours,” Barry said. “Every time a team said they would close
a lane, they lost points in the proposal evaluation process. The
contractors and designers had to think about how to get the project
done differently than MoDOT had ever done in the past.”
Based on their deep understanding of MoDOT’s goals and
budget, HNTB and Clarkson developed a method to assess
MoDOT’s scoring scale for the project, evaluating the components
of their proposal based on what the owner wanted to achieve.
“We developed preliminary design during the RFP process,
working closely with Clarkson,” said Chris Price, HNTB principalin-charge.
“Our design resulted from looking at what we could fit
within MoDOT’s existing right-of-way while minimizing impacts
to the traveling public and allowing for repetition in construction
to create efficiencies for the contractor.”
In the end, the HNTB-Clarkson team was selected as the best
value proposer. The proposal represented the low-cost bid and a
completion date one year ahead of MoDOT’s schedule, offered valueadd
components and promised efficient construction that would keep
traffic delays to an acceptable minimum. The project also included the
replacement of the smaller, through-tied steel arch U.S. 40 Bridge over
the Blue River. That structure, built in 1933, was shut down in August
2014 due to the results of a routine bridge inspection.
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION EFFICIENCIES
After the HNTB-Clarkson team was selected as design-builder in
July 2013, MoDOT representatives co-located in HNTB’s offices until
Page 10 HNTB DESIGNER Number 105