LBJ Express
Dallas
Best Project, Highway/bridge, and Excellence in Safety, Award of Merit
General Contractor/Lead Design Trinity Infrastructure, Ferrovial Agroman US and Webber JV
Developer LBJ Infrastructure Group
Owner Texas Dept. of Transportation
Spanning 13 miles, the new LBJ Express is a $2.7-billion public-private partnership project that crosses two municipalities within Dallas County and doubles the existing capacity of the highway corridor.
Trinity Infrastructure, a joint venture between Ferrovial Agroman US and Webber, led design and construction, the first comprehensive development agreement in Dallas County.
Reconstruction included two major interchanges—IH 35E and Dallas North Tollway—as well as 12 arterial crossings, six collector-street crossings and one pedestrian walkway crossing. Additionally, 5.8 million sq ft of bridge decks were built, more than 6 million cu yd of material excavated and nearly 2 million sq ft of retaining walls constructed, all while maintaining traffic flow for 250,000 motorists through one of the busiest highway corridors in the nation.
A team of more than 9,000 workers clocked more than 16 million man-hours, with a 1.2 safety incident rate and no life-threatening injuries or fatalities. All employees and subcontractor workers were required to attend a four-hour safety and environmental orientation that addressed hazards and working safely around traffic before reporting to work on the project.
The project began in late 2010 and was completed within budget and three months ahead of schedule.
During construction, some bridges had to be built first, which meant that lower structures were constructed with greatly reduced vertical clearance. Because the project could not exceed a specific height, constructing the managed lanes using cantilever decks above underground lanes significantly benefited the project.
