The Texas DOT awarded Balfour Beatty a $746 million contract to rebuild part of I-35 through Austin, Texas, the London-based contractor said in a Nov. 5 news release. It is part of the agency’s 8-mile, $4.5 billion I-35 Capital Express Central project, one of its most important mobility efforts for the Central Texas region.
Balfour Beatty will reconstruct a 2.5-mile section of the route on the south side of downtown Austin. Once complete, it will provide eight general purpose lanes, upgraded access roads and a bridge and new intersection at Riverside Drive to support the future light rail line, which is key to expanding Central Texas’ public transport network.
Crews will also build a new bridge across the 416-acre Lady Bird Lake on the Colorado River to replace the existing span that was built in 1956. The bridge will be constructed from a barge and will require complex engineering and marine expertise, per Balfour Beatty.
This project continues a 30-year partnership with the Texas DOT, Balfour Beatty Chief Executive Leo Quinn said in the release.
“Our selective bidding approach ensures that we leverage our strengths to work with long-term customers in the geographies in which we have proven expertise, strong teams and trusted supply chain partners,” Quinn said.
Main construction will start in the first half of 2025 with completion expected in 2033, according to the release.
The I-35 overhaul consists of three main projects that aim to improve connectivity and enhance capacity on one of the state’s most-traveled corridors: North, South and Central, the largest project phase.
Irving, Texas-based Fluor broke ground in 2022 on the $548 million I-35 Capital Express South, and last year Phoenix-headquartered Pulice Construction broke ground on the $606 million I-35 Capital Express North portion.