Balfour Beatty joint venture awarded US$625 million Southern Gateway contract by Texas Department of Transportation

Balfour Beatty joint venture awarded US$625 million Southern Gateway contract by Texas Department of Transportation

Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, has been awarded a $625 million (c. £484 million) contract to reconstruct and improve the ‘Southern Gateway’, an 11 mile stretch of road in Dallas, Texas.

The contract has been awarded in joint venture to Pegasus Link Constructors LLC, a joint venture between Balfour Beatty (45 per cent) and Fluor Corporation (55 per cent).

The Texas Department of Transportation awarded the contract as part of the Clear Lanes initiative, a programme that prioritises funding for congestion relief projects in Texas’ metropolitan areas.  The improvement scheme will improve road-user safety and relieve congestion for the 180,000 motorists who use the road each day through smoothing and rebuilding existing road elements, enhancing traffic operations and improving entrance and exit ramps. Works include increasing capacity on Interstate 35E (I-35E), south of downtown Dallas, rebuilding the I-35E/U.S.67 interchange and widening the U.S.67 from I-35E to I-20.

Leo Quinn, Balfour Beatty Group Chief Executive, said: “We are pleased to have been selected by the Texas Department of Transportation for the ‘Southern Gateway’.  This award recognises our expertise and track record for delivering complex design-build transportation projects following our successful delivery of the adjacent Dallas Horseshoe Project”.

Construction is scheduled to start in late 2017 with completion scheduled for 2021. A workforce of approximately 700 will be employed at project peak.