VDOT I-95 HOT Lanes

Client: Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)

Location: Virginia, U.S.

Map showing the location of VDOT I-95 HOT Lanes

Executive Summary

Fluor and our partner Transurban DRIVe USA Investments LLC entered into a comprehensive agreement with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) for the financing, design-build and operation and maintenance of approximately 29 miles of High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes along Interstate 95 in Stafford County continuing to Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. We participated both in the financing and design-build aspects of the project.

The I-95 project improved the existing High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes in one of the most congested regional corridors in the United States.

We served as the managing partner of the construction joint venture (Fluor-Lane 95 LLC) with The Lane Construction Corp on the overall $925 million I-95 project.

Fluor and Transurban formed 95 Express Lanes LLC as a special purpose vehicle for the 75-year concession. Transurban was the majority owner of the concession company with a 90% share, and Fluor was a 10% minority owner.

Client's Challenge

VDOT is a leader in public-private partnerships (PPPs) providing innovative solutions to infrastructure challenges in the Northern Virginia Corridor and throughout the entire Commonwealth.

The Virginia Governor stated that VDOT was leveraging nearly $1 billion to move more people with fewer cars by giving them more transportation choices that would save time, money and improve the environment.

The 95 Express Lanes span 29 miles from just north of the Capital Beltway located outside the nation's capital and travel along Interstate 95 through three counties to Garrisonville Road in Stafford. The project was built in just 29 months and brought the most significant changes to the I-95 corridor in a generation.

Fluor's Solution

Fluor and our partners, Transurban and Lane Construction, achieved great success on infrastructure projects in the Northern Virginia area to help alleviate traffic congestion and to provide commuters with new options.

The principal components of the I-95 project financing included approximately $253 million in Private Activity Bonds; $300 million in a federal TIFIA loan; $292 million from Transurban and Fluor; $71 million in public funds from VDOT; and $9 million in other funds.

The key components of I-95 construction project included:

Performing structural bridge work including building five new bridges, four new fly over ramps, three widened bridges and 15 bridge/ramp repairs
Building a new 9-mile roadway extension consisting of major clearing, earthwork, drainage improvements and bridge fly overs
Installing more than 700 miles of cable and wire and more than 1,000 tolling and traffic management devices
Placing more than 1 million square feet of sound walls

Over the life cycle of the project, the 95 Express Lanes supported nearly 12,600 jobs in Virginia and generated approximately $1.5 billion in economic activity. The project put more than 500 businesses to work and infused more than $200 million into disadvantaged, small, women and minority-owned business enterprises.

During the construction of the 95 Express Lanes, the Fluor-led joint venture, Fluor-Lane 95, LLC, was able to achieve more than 3.8 million safe work hours without a lost time incident. The team maintained an OSHA recordable rate of 0.41, substantially below the industry national average of 3.6. This rating made the project one of the safest ever in the U.S.

Conclusion

Fluor and our partners Transurban and Lane Construction provided financing, design-build, operation and maintenance of approximately 29 miles of HOT lanes along Interstate 95 in northern Virginia.

The three companies leveraged their past success to meet VDOT's growing infrastructure needs.

In 2014, our 95 Express Lanes project received the American Road and Transportation Builders Association's Transportation Development Foundation 2014 Contractor Safety Award.

The I-95 HOT Lanes project received Fluor's 2014 Hugh Coble Project Excellence Award. The award is based on outstanding performance in several areas, including safety, value creation and client and community relations.