As if you needed another reason to think your elected officials were out-of-touch with reality, Steve Beshear just sent out a weird press release tying the Ohio River Bridges Debacle to the Kentucky Derby.
Have a look:
Riders Up! Kentucky Issues Request for Proposals to Build Downtown Crossing of Ohio River Bridges Project
Three finalist teams will compete to deliver best value; aggressive goals set for minorities, women in construction workforce
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (May 1, 2012) – The race to determine who will build a new downtown bridge and interstate connections in Louisville begins today with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s release of the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Downtown Crossing of the Ohio River Bridges Project.
“We’re off and running,” said Gov. Steve Beshear. “We have moved from promises and planning to selecting a team of professionals who will help us deliver for the people of Kentucky and Indiana.”
Three experienced teams of bridge- and highway-building professionals will spend the next six months and invest millions of dollars developing detailed plans for the complex project that includes building a new Interstate 65 bridge over the Ohio River, revamping the existing Kennedy Bridge, untangling the downtown Louisville interchange and rebuilding interstate connections in Jeffersonville and Clarksville, Ind.
The Bridges Project, a cooperative effort by Kentucky and Indiana, will create more than 4,000 construction-related jobs over the next six years as one of the nation’s largest transportation improvement projects. Kentucky is overseeing the construction and financing of the Downtown Crossing while Indiana is overseeing construction of the East End Crossing between Prospect, Ky., and Utica, Ind.
How hard did your eyes roll at that?
Read the rest of the release after the jump…
The Downtown Crossing RFP covers nearly 500 pages of detailed project information, requirements and instructions to solicit proposals that focus on innovative designs, cost-saving approaches, thoughtful traffic maintenance and an inclusive workforce.
The document sets aggressive goals for the inclusion of minorities and women in the construction workforce. The minority workforce goal is 15 percent and the female workforce goal is 10 percent.
“We have set the bar high and made the standard clear,” Gov. Beshear said. “The workforce that builds this project must be a reflection of the region.”
The RFP encourages teams to find ways to speed construction of the project, which is estimated to take six years to build, by including financial incentives for early completion. The winning team may receive a bonus of $40,000 a day – up to $12 million (or about 1 percent of the estimated project cost) – for completing construction ahead of the agreed-to deadline. However, if the deadline is not met, the contractor may be penalized $80,000 for each day that the project is late.
The RFP is posted on the KYTC website at http://transportation.ky.gov/Ohio-River-Bridges/Pages/default.aspx
The three teams will present their technical proposals by Oct. 1 and their cost proposals by Nov. 15. KYTC plans to award a contract for the Downtown Crossing by year’s end, with construction beginning in earnest in early 2013 and completion by June 2018. The six-year construction timeline is less than half the time previously projected for the project.
A group of KYTC evaluators reviewed the qualifications of five professional teams and narrowed the field to three finalists on April 23:
Ohio River Transportation Constructors
- Kiewit Infrastructure Co.
- Traylor Brothers Inc.
- Kokosing Construction Co. Inc.
- Massman Construction Co.
- HNTB Corp.
- Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc.
Skanska Flatiron Dragados
- Skanska USA Civil Southeast Inc.
- Flatiron Constructors Inc.
- Dragados USA Inc.
- URS Corp.
- T.Y. Lin International
Walsh Construction
- Walsh Construction Co.
- Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.
- Milestone Contractors, L.P.
- Buckland & Taylor Ltd.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Sesame Street // May 1, 2012 at 1:04 pm
When is it going to dawn on these dumbasses the city of Louisville doesn’t need and doesn’t want another downtown bridge. haven’t we wasted enough money on studies and research.
2 G'town Reader // May 1, 2012 at 2:11 pm
How do you define “the city of Louisville?” Many CITIZENS of Louisville don’t want another downtown bridge. But the folks who actually CONTROL the city, the state, and the money seem to desire otherwise. :-(
3 Sesame Street // May 1, 2012 at 3:38 pm
I define the city of Louisville by the majority of the people who live in the city. not by the sneaky corrupt politicians who think they know whats best. If the majority of the people don’t want a bridge then don’t keep trying to push it on the city of Louisville. (defined as the people who live in this city and vote these dumb asses in). the people in control of the money are not elected to do what ever they want. they are elected to work for the people. Majority rules. we don’t want the stinking bridge. quit wasting our money
4 Ryan // May 1, 2012 at 9:31 pm
you don’t want another bridge, us folks in Southern Indiana are frankly quite tired of being late to work every time the KYTC decides they’re going to patch potholes in rush hour. Transportation corridors are expensive projects. They’re always unpopular in the planning phase, but once you get through the headache, you can say hello to growth. That’s the idea. You build for the future. If we absolutely needed another bridge now, it would have been built 30 years ago (when they started talking about this – of course I won’t get into the likelihood that we would be using those bridges to capacity if they were constructed when originally planned, because the Louisville area would have grown faster.)
5 Stunoland // May 1, 2012 at 11:50 pm
Louisville could definitely use more urban cross-river capacity but not at the cost of the economically disastrous downtown Ohio River Bridge Project. This project is undeniably regressive in that our central business district has been stripped of what little aesthetic improvements had been budgeted while the east end project retains the absurd $795 million 1.4 mile 4-lane luxury highway. Even worse this project builds 100 year infrastructure that exclusively connects to a 1950s style elevated waterfront expressway on our central business district riverfront. The picture capture tolling method has serious collection problems in the United States resulting in significant collection problems. The initial 2/3rds tolling scenario removes the possibility of requiring non-local tractor-trailers to bypass the city. And most disturbing, the 2/3rds tolling scenario is fatally flawed. It is blatantly obvious to anyone who has read the final preliminary tolling study that the Sherman-Minton bridge has to be tolled. Unless you assume that Wilbur-Smith, now CDSmith (A company who’s last 12 studies have been off by 127%) is using realistic assumptions in their 100% proprietary financial model. It is not legal or ethical to intentionally distort important financial projections. Those who continue to support the downtown Ohio River Bridge Project are endorsing fraud. The Beshear/Daniels memorandum of understanding allows for tolling the Sherman-Minton and Spaghetti Junction. They could not sell the $700 million in bonds at reasonable bond rates without that clause. By not admitting to the inevitable tolling of the existing Sherman-Minton bridge our leadership is committing fraud against their constituents. Prevent the biggest urban planning mistake of the 21st century. Divide the project, not the community. Build the east end bride and multiple modestly tolled local-access bridges. Save Louisville.
6 I'mapro // May 2, 2012 at 1:21 am
Ryan I do believe just a few days ago the people in southern Indiana voiced their opinion, and most were also against another downtown bridge. like most of us they were for the east end bridge.
The city is in need of a loop connecting the east and southwest side to Indiana. not another downtown bridge.
7 Ryan // May 2, 2012 at 8:40 pm
I’m sorry, I think i was misunderstood. I’m not a fan of the funding, and I’m not a fan of the ram it through style, but I know that this country and this region need infrastructure improvements right now. Shouting “I hate bridges” isn’t the answer. Stunoland you make very good points – I would be a very big fan of local-access bridges. I just know that capacity is definitely an issue.
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