VDOT project cost $15 million less than expected

The reconstruction of 11 I-95 bridges in Richmond and Henrico County is expected to cost $15 million less than the original estimate, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.

“Contractors are looking for work,” Thomas A. Hawthorne, VDOT’s Richmond district administrator, told the Richmond Times Dispatch, “and we’re getting a pattern of reasonably good prices on projects.”

VDOT awarded $68 million to Archer Western Contractors of Atlanta to rebuild the 7-mile span between Lombardy Street in Richmond, Va., and Upham Brook in Henrico County.

Expected to be complete by 2014, the project will be divided into two phases. The crews will be working under the bridges for the first two years, and by 2012, the crew will replace each bridge span with new prefabricated sections.

With 160,000 vehicles traveling through this I-95 stretch daily, the crew will accommodate traffic by working at night and keeping certain lanes open at certain times.

“This project will help ensure that traffic can move safely and efficiently through the commonwealth for decades to come,” Gov. Bob McDonnell said in a statement.

The project is also expected to bring 150 jobs a year to the region through construction demand and 100 jobs additionally as an economic ripple effect.