Ferrovial wins $460m Atlanta road project

North Perimeter Contractors, a consortium led by Spanish developer Ferrovial, beat out three other teams in its bid to design, build and partly finance a $460 million highway project in Atlanta.

The project, which includes rebuilding and upgrading 10.5 miles along Interstate 285 (I-285) and the State Road 400 (SR 400), is expected to save drivers eight hours of travel per year once it is completed in 2020.

According to the statement, upgrades include the construction of new flyover ramps, collector-distributor lanes and other elements to facilitate east-west movement on I-285 and north-south movement on SR 400. It also includes the extension of the PATH 400 trail – a system connecting parks, trails, schools and neighborhoods to the urban core of Buckhead and to the Atlanta BeltLine.

The Ferrovial-led consortium, which includes The Louis Berger Group and Neel-Schaffer, was competing against AWH Roadbuilders (Archer Western Contractors/Hubbard Construction/Parsons), Dragados/Flatiron/Prince JV and a Skanska/Balfour Beatty joint venture.

The interchange reconstruction scheme is composed of two stand-alone projects, which the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) had initially estimated would cost roughly $1.1 billion to complete. “However, through the competitiveness and resourcefulness possible with a P3 procurement, the bid of North Perimeter Contractors was $460 million,” GDOT said in a statement.

“The reduced costs of design, construction and financing now place the current total project estimate […] at $679 million,” the department noted, adding that the project will be funded through a combination of federal, state, local and private funds.

The first of the two projects is the I-285/SR 400 interchange reconstruction project. It involves the reconstruction of about 4.3 miles along I-285 and improvements to another 5.2 miles of SR 400. The second involves the installation of two collector-distributor lanes along SR 400 to separate through traffic from local traffic.

“This is a great example of a public-private partnership bringing value to the citizens of Georgia by letting private sector innovation and financing build a better project,” GDOT Commissioner Russell McMurry said.