Design Firm of the Year: HNTB Corp.
All politics is local, or so the saying goes. The same could be said of the complex, potentially contentious nature of transportation construction, which may involve any number of unique, location-specific issues and interests. It is because of transportation's inherent intricacies that agencies in Texas and Louisiana are casting a wider net to develop viable alternatives for getting projects and programs up and running as efficiently as possible while also meeting the demands of a mobile marketplace.
The ability to meet those requirements is a key reason why many agencies have called on HNTB Corp., ENR Texas & Louisiana's Design Firm of the Year.
A number of key commissions over the past 12 months have solidified HNTB's standing as the region's top transportation-oriented designer. Last summer, for example, Texas Dept. of Transportation (TxDOT) selected HNTB to provide statewide engineering procurement services to develop and implement planned public-private partnership projects as well as for such delivery methods as concession and design-build.
Among them is the $818-million Dallas Horseshoe, a project to improve Interstates 30 and 35E and construct nine bridges over the Trinity River and Dallas Floodway. For the $4.7-billion, 25-mile U.S. 290 corridor rebuild in Houston, HNTB serves as TxDOT's program management consultant, assisting the agency in fast-tracking the project by 20 years.
In Louisiana, HNTB recently completed the Baton Rouge-New Orleans Intercity Rail Feasibility Study, commissioned by the Capital Region Planning Commission, the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. The study calls for an initial capital investment of $262 million, compared with a previous estimate of $448 million. The project, should it proceed, would help 1.4 million commuters.
HNTB also has been instrumental in helping manage Louisiana Dept. of Transportation and Development's (LaDOTD's) $90-million Paths to Progress Program (P2P), sustaining the momentum of the state's post-Katrina infrastructure recovery.
More than a half century of providing a variety of services in both states gives HNTB a vast amount of experience to leverage, says Tom O'Grady, president of the firm. However, the past goes only so far in tackling 21st-century transportation challenges.
"It comes down, as it always has, to understanding what's important to each agency," says O'Grady.
"In Texas, you have the advantage of strong funding sources and public recognition that transportation is a critical need," he explains. "The state is focused on accelerating projects through various review processes, using whatever the most appropriate delivery method is while still meeting their regulatory and financial stewardship responsibilities."
In Louisiana, however, project funding has proven more difficult to come by, making maintenance of existing infrastructure a primary focus, and one requiring creative solutions.
"There are a lot of efforts underway to educate lawmakers and the general public on infrastructure's importance and benefits that we hope will eventually lead to infrastructure expansion," O'Grady says.
Texas is distinguished by more than just a positive environment for transportation funding, says Carlos Lopez, an HNTB vice president who heads firm offices in the state's southern and central regions.
"In addition to many urban and rural needs, there are also different administrative agencies, from TxDOT to regional mobility authorities, toll road authorities and transit and aviation agencies," Lopez explains. "They all want successful projects, but they each have their own paths to getting there."
John Barton, TxDOT deputy executive director, is pleased to have a general engineering consultant that can handle the "heavy lifting" for the agency's strategic project delivery program, given the increasing reliance on public- and private-sector partnerships to tackle major design and construction initiatives.
"We need private partners that have the resources to make things possible in a timely manner as well as the ability to bring creative and innovative solutions," Barton says. "We never worry about HNTB's team because they've proven they can handle it."
HNTB is serving as owner's representative and general engineering consultant on the new $700-million Harbor Bridge in Corpus Christi, Texas. HNTB assisted TxDOT in securing the complex design-build-maintain procurement method necessary "to make this beautiful iconic bridge a reality in a way that makes the most of TxDOT's resources," Lopez says.
Barton also credits HNTB's passion for sound construction management for moving work along in an effective and efficient manner.
"They're teaching all of us how to get things done," he says.
Keeping Pace With Priorities
Louisiana may be smaller than Texas in size and population, but it nonetheless faces a multibillion-dollar backlog of transportation needs. In some respects, those needs are even more complex than those of Texas, says Gen. John Basilica Jr. (Ret.), HNTB vice president and Gulf Coast district leader.
"This is a multimodal state for which other infrastructure—railroads, the Mississippi River, ports—are just as important as roads," Basilica says. "It's a unique place in America now even more so given recent increases in oil and gas activity."
As such, what funds exist must be allocated among various modes as efficiently as possible.
"There are a lot of mouths to feed," Basilica says. "That's why we strive to be a trusted agent in partnering with agencies and assisting them with their most complex problems."
Few efforts illustrate such relationships better than the P2P program, a coordinated effort among federal, state and local agencies to rehabilitate, restore and enhance more than 60 southern Louisiana roadway segments damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
HNTB plays a multifaceted role in P2P, providing program administration, preliminary engineering and construction engineering and inspection. What most impresses Jeff Burst, LaDOTD project management division chief, is the firm's ability to solve problems, such as expediting two five-street repair projects in the New Orleans French Quarter in 2012.
"This area already is challenging because of high traffic and varying access requirements among residents and businesses," says Burst. "We also had an upcoming Super Bowl, so the mayor wanted the projects completed before then, which gave us just five months."
HNTB assumed responsibility for executing the two projects, completing them about a month ahead of schedule. "To achieve full collaboration among everyone in that area in a compressed time frame was big," Burst says. "That's typical of how they've handled business."
Along with helping advance restoration of Louisiana's infrastructure, the P2P program's success is evidenced by its emergence as a model for post-disaster recovery efforts in other areas. For example, the transportation departments for New York state and New York City called on Burst and HNTB to map their recovery efforts following Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
"We helped them with all aspects of project management and implementation, from specific processes for getting federal disaster funding to collaborating with community agencies that typically don't report to or work with each other," Burst says.
Transportation-oriented firms such as HNTB will need to continue honing their creative edge as days of waning federal funding give way to environments in which sound planning and technical and administrative acumen are paramount, executives say.
"Funding will always be priority number one, and more likely to be addressed in Texas," says O'Grady. "In Louisiana, prioritization will be key, perhaps with an expansion of toll facilities."
A changing landscape may well entail expanding efforts to bring the broadest possible range of perspectives to bear on projects. That's HNTB's forte, says Barton. He recalls how the firm drew heavily on community input for the Dallas Horseshoe that ultimately made a good solution better.
"They like to be on the cutting edge of things," Barton says. "They're not just looking to build a better mousetrap but find solutions that will be as good 25 years from now as they are today."
