TIMED moves on

Hurricanes to have little effect on program's progress

By Angelle Bergeron

Although Katrina and Rita wreaked havoc throughout Louisiana's transportation and infrastructure system, DOTD predicts the hurricanes will have little effect on progress of the state's three TIMED bridge projects.

The $4 billion Transportation Infrastructure Model for Economic Development includes widening the four-laning of 536 mi. of state highways, improvements to both the Port of New Orleans and Louis Armstrong International Airport and widening and/or new construction on three major bridges.

Although the Huey P. Long Mississippi River Bridge in New Orleans is in the hurricane-impacted area, the DOTD is still on track and let the first phase of the project Dec. 14, said Dana Newsome, communications director for Louisiana TIMED Managers.

LTM is the third-party firm that represents the DOTD on all TIMED projects in regards to finances, communications, overview and design, even some construction, she said.

advertisement

"The letting is very significant because it is the first project continued in the area since Hurricane Katrina and because it wasn't affected at all," Newsome said. The first phase includes widening of the piers beneath the bridge and won't affect traffic flow.

DOTD cannot currently determine whether the hurricanes will present any delays to new construction of the Florida Avenue Bridge over the Industrial Canal between Orleans and St. Bernard Parishes.

"We are still making assessments to the area, which was incredibly hard-hit, so it is too early to say exactly how much is going to change," Newsome said. However, schedule adjustments are likely. "We are still on track to construct the project and the first letting is scheduled for January."

Three joint-venture groups have been short listed to prepare design/build proposals on the St. Francisville Bridge project, the DOTD's first experiment in the design-build project delivery method. Those three were given an invitation to submit a design build proposal by January 2006. Because of the storms, DOTD postponed the date for receipt of the proposals until March, said Blaise Carriere, DOTD special projects assistant.

"We delayed on St. Francisville to allow contractors to see if the subs would be available and just to let things settle down a bit," he said.

"We are on track to finalize the design build procurement process in early 2006 and we anticipate at least starting to see some activity in the area of the bridge by the first quarter of 2006," Newsome said.

Total cost for the St. Francisville project is $269 million, which is based on 2005 dollars, Carriere said. The Huey P. Long widening is $413 million and Florida Avenue is projected to be $209 million.

"We hope to bring each of those projects in for a lesser amount of money," Carriere said. DOTD has projected completion of the TIMED program by 2010.