The I-15 North Corridor Design-Build project in Las Vegas and Phoenix’s Red Mountain Freeway project each won the Marvin M. Black Excellence in Partnering award Tuesday during AGC’s 92nd Annual Convention in Las Vegas.
Representatives from the CH2M Hill/Las Vegas Paving Corporation Joint Venture and the Kiewit/Sundt Joint Venture accepted their awards from incoming AGC President Kris Young.
“You need skills to build a good project, but you need a lot more patience, experience and savvy to build successful construction partnerships,” said Young, president and CEO of Des Moines, Iowa-based Miller the Driller. “In today’s construction environment, being able to get many people on the same page is essential to success.”
The I-15 North Corridor project was the Nevada Department of Transportation’s first design-build contract. It included widening a 5.8 mile section of Interstate 15 in Las Vegas, reconstructing interchanges, 16 bridges and 17 miles of concrete barrier rail. Through close collaboration with state officials, the project team put in place a number of innovations that resulted in the completion of the project 228 days ahead of schedule, improved the quality of the work, increased safety and reduced costs. The project was completed under heavy traffic within a tight urban footprint, and required close coordination with the City of Las Vegas and City of North Las Vegas, a dozen utility providers, several local businesses and more than one thousand residents.
The $190 million Phoenix project was the Arizona Department of Transportation’s largest of its kind. It consisted of widening 10 miles of freeway through Phoenix and Tempe, adding general purpose and auxiliary lanes, widening 22 bridges, and reconstructing 18 ramps. Even though portions of the project spanned protected wetlands and Tempe Town Lake, the team completed the design and construction eight months ahead of schedule and $9 million below budget. The team held two separate workshops to discuss project goals and potential issues, and everyone involved with the project attended weekly design and construction status meetings to provide input for the project. The team logged approximately 700,000 man hours with zero lost time incidents.
The Marvin M. Black Excellence in Partnering Award recognizes unique and successful partnerships needed to complete complex construction projects. A panel of judges, representing all areas of construction, evaluated a record number of projects that were completed in 2010, assessing contractors’ ability to resolve conflicts, the quality of communications with all involved parties and the ability to get many groups to achieve one goal, among other key criteria.
Read descriptions of all the Marvin M. Black Excellence in Partnering Award winning projects.
For more information on the awards program, contact Elisa Brewer Pratt at (703) 837-5343 or brewere@agc.org.