State officials announced this week that they plan to split the work on the Francis Scott Key Bridge into four separate contracts going forward, in hopes of increasing competition and lowering costs.
Tuesday’s announcement came three weeks after the Maryland Transportation Authority announced it was parting ways with the current contractor, Kiewit Infrastructure, because of an “unacceptably high” bid on the second phase of what is now, officially at least, projected to be about a $5 billion project.
Officials never said what price Kiewit was proposing for the second phase of the project, only that after weeks of discussions the state “decided that their bid was unacceptably high,” Maryland Transportation Secretary Kathryn Thomson said at the time.
It was then that they decided to “off-ramp” Kiewit and look for new contractors for phase two, Thomson said.
Under the plan unveiled Tuesday, the work will be broken into four contracts:
- Demolition of remaining bridge structures in the Patapsco and on land. State officials estimate the bids will be between $50 million and $100 million when the job is put out to bid this summer, with work possibly starting this fall.
- Construction of the southern highway approach to the bridge, including highway and 3,ooo feet of bridge, grading, wetlands work and tolling systems, lighting and the like. That is expected to cost $300 million to $400 million and be advertised this fall or winter, with work starting in the spring.
- Construction of a similar northern approach, with s shorter bridge section and longer at-grade roadway, expected to cost $200 million to $300 million and be advertised this with construction next spring.
- The largest piece, the construction of the bridge itself and protection for the bridge piers against a future boat strike. Requests for contractor qualifications will go out this summer, with possibly starting next summer. The cost of that work is expected to be between $3.5 billion and $4 billion.
