Innovative Strategies on Dallas High Five Project

The $262.9 million Dallas High Five project is reconstructing the busiest freeway interchange in the largest metropolitan area in Texas. The five-level, fully directional interchange between US-75 (North Central Expressway) and I-635 (Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway) is being reconstructed to replace the existing three-level partial cloverleaf interchange built in the mid-1960s. It was the single largest contract ever let by the Texas Department of Transportation and was more than double the previous largest contract. The project site is in the middle of a highly developed commercial zone of the city and poses all the challenges associated with urban freeway reconstruction. Almost 500,000 vehicles pass through the construction site every day, and extraordinary care was taken to minimize the impact on traffic and abutting businesses by instituting innovative strategies in the construction contract, including lane rental, windowed milestones, and no-excuse incentives. The financing concept adopted for this project has since become a statewide criterion. Details about contracting strategies and the thought processes involved in their development and application are presented, along with results from their application so far.