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Texas Tollway Wins Rare Honour
The DNT 393 was named the “Public Works Project of the Year for Construction Projects over $10 million” by the Texas chapter of the American Public Works Association for making “an outstanding contribution to infrastructure”.
Although the award was given to the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA), as owner/client of the project, the NTTA later made a special presentation at a board meeting of duplicate plaques to those companies who helped deliver the project: BBII, the two engineering firms involved and the consultant handling the inspection/project management.
Completed in September 2004, the U.S. $32 million DNT 393 project comprised a 1.6 mile extension of the Dallas North Tollway into the northern communities of Dallas, involving six traffic lanes, ramps and service roads crossing State Highway 121. One interesting feature of the project was a three-level diamond interchange constructed in conjunction with the Texas Department of Transportation.
Big Challenge
According to Steve Meade, Project Coordinator for Balfour Beatty, a significant challenge was dealing with one of the busiest intersections in North Dallas. “Portions of the work were not accessible until the traffic was diverted to the new service roads. We overcame this by proposing alternative detours and shortening the construction schedule, which benefited all parties,” he said.
Other challenges included some 28 change orders to the value of U.S. $1.3 million, including implementation of the Tollway Authority’s new system-wide guidelines. The original opening date was scheduled for August 13, 2004 yet Balfour Beatty was able to beat it by four months. The road was open for traffic on April 6th.
Commenting on the award, Divisional Manager Bill Miller said: “The DNT 393 is one of eight projects we’ve completed on time and on budget for the North Texas Tollway Authority so it’s kind of a rare honour for a project to be singled out in this way. It’s certainly very pleasing and very good for the morale of the team to be recognised for a job well done.”
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