Texas Highway Team Wins National Quality Award

Houston Gateway Acclaimed for Design Excellence, InnovationsAustin,TX/September 4, 2003 – The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the TxDOT/Houston District Bridge Section, and Williams Brothers Construction Company (WBC) today earned a top honor from the National Partnership for Highway Quality (NPHQ) for the US 59-Southwest Freeway, the Houston Gateway. The project team won NPHQ's 2003 Special Recognition for a Structure Project for its application of quality practices focusing on the customer. NPHQ is a partnership of federal and state officials and leaders in the roadway industry who advocate customer-centered practices for roads that are completed quicker, ride better, last longer, reduce congestion and improve safety.

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The project widened nearly a mile of below-grade US 59 Freeway known as the Southwest Freeway, which is Texas's most heavily traveled radial freeway. It runs to and from downtown Houston, with an average daily traffic count of 241,000 vehicles. In addition, four existing bridges which spanned but restricted the freeway had to be replaced. They served as building platforms for the metal supporting structures of four new tied-arch bridges. Once the steel was in place over the existing bridges, each old bridge was demolished from under the new one using controlled explosions on five separate weekends to minimize traffic problems. The new bridges opened vertical and horizontal clearance on the freeway, spanning 200 feet each, carrying two lanes of traffic, and allowing parallel sidewalks and bike lanes.

The $35.6 million reconstruction was completed 30 days early with a cost savings to road users of $420,000, despite remarkable hurdles. Nature provided one: Tropical Storm Allison, one of the largest rainfalls recorded in North America. The storm dumped over 38 inches of rain in one weekend, filling the below-grade freeway with an estimated 100 million gallons of brown bayou floodwater. The team tackled the job head on, and the freeway was cleared, cleaned, and reopened in time for Monday morning rush hour. Space confines prompted another challenge: the below-grade freeway was restricted on either side, above, and below. Aesthetics offered another: the design had to enhance the surrounding cultural community.

"The only way to overcome hurdles like these is to combine partnering, technical skill, state-of-the-art design, quality processes, and a focus on driver and work crew safety," said Bob Templeton, the Executive Director of the National Partnership for Highway Quality. "And that's what the Texas team did. We should note that out of 310,931 manhours of work during the two-year undertaking, there were no lost time accidents and no claims on the project."

US 59 reconstruction has already received multiple awards, noted Templeton. "Its owner, contractor and designer deserve this latest national recognition for a sterling display of quality in action and creation of a new architectural landmark," he said.

The National Partnership for Highway Quality encourages practices that will lead to a new era of roadway investment and performance to improve safety and service for highway users. It is composed of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), American Highway Users Alliance (AHUA), The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), Foundation for Pavement Preservation (FP2), Granite Construction Company, the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies (NICET), National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA), Kiewit Corporation, RedVector.com, Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), URS Corporation, and Williams Brothers Construction Company.

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