Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, P3 Rapid Bridge Replacement

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, P3 Rapid Bridge Replacement

Project Overview

With 25,000 state owned bridges, the Commonwealth has the third-largest number of bridges in the United States, and has the largest number of bridges classified as “structurally deficient.” PennDOT has been addressing its structurally deficient bridge problem in recent years and has reduced the number of structurally deficient bridges from over 6,000 to roughly 4,500 state-wide. As a continuation of this effort, PennDOT is undertaking an $899M “Rapid Bridge Replacement” P3 project.

The Rapid Bridge Replacement (RBR) project involves replacing 558 geographically dispersed, structurally deficient, bridges and culverts across the Commonwealth in less than five years. The majority of the Replacement Bridges and culverts are single span bridges or single cell culverts that will be replaced in-kind. The RBR project requires the Development Entity to be responsible for financing the design, construction, and maintenance of bridges and culverts for 25 years with payments from the Department over the same 25-year period. The project is unique because it is the first of its kind in the nation to bundle the replacement of hundreds of bridges and culverts in a public-private partnership (P3) agreement.

For this statewide project, Envision provided a Deputy Project Manager responsible for Construction Quality Management (QA), who is managing a team (40 plus) of construction managers and QA inspectors as agents of PennDOT preforming quality assurance reviews. In this role, Envision reviewed quality management plans and supporting documentation to verify that bridges were built in conformance with PennDOT’s applicable regulations and guidelines. Envision also monitored the Construction Quality Acceptance Firm (CQAF)’s adherence to applicable quality manuals and requirements for PennDOT, monitored the performance of the quality control inspectors and was assigned an active role with overall progress, schedule reviews, and maintenance management.

Project Information

Owner Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT)
Project Start July 2018
Project End November 2019
Project Cost $899M
Envision’s Role
  • Construction Management
  • Quality Assurance (QA)
  • Construction Schedule Review
  • Maintenance Management