Winning Proposal Reduces I-65 NW Indiana Lake County
Widening Cost by More Than 20 Percent
Public Hearings Scheduled Oct. 17 and 24; Comments Due
Oct. 24
The Indiana Department of Transportation
announces that competing private-sector proposals reduced the cost to widen and
modernize 12 miles of I-65 in Lake County by about 22.5 percent below
engineering estimates.
The Preliminary Preferred Proposer team
of Walsh Construction Company II, LLC and lead design engineer Parsons Transportation Group
Inc. submitted the winning proposal to add travel lanes on I-65 between U.S. 30
(Exit 253) in Merrillville and State Road 2 (Exit 240) near Lowell. In
addition, the project will modernize the I-65 bridges over the Kankakee River at
mile 234.
INDOT reviewed proposals submitted by
four qualified design-build teams. The Walsh proposal met the technical and
quality requirements while also providing the lowest bid price of $62M.
The project is part of Governor Mike
Pence’s Major Moves 2020 program, which is widening and modernizing nearly 40
miles of I-65 and 13 miles of I-69 in Indiana. Major Moves 2020 is funded
through $400 million in general fund revenues enacted in 2014 and $200 million
in the current two-year state budget.
Public
hearings
INDOT will hold public hearings in Crown
Point on Oct. 17 and in Kentland on Oct. 24 to collect public comment on the
selected proposal. Also, staff from the project team will be available to
answer questions before and after the hearings. Both meetings will begin at 6
p.m. Central Time.
The first hearing will take place Monday,
Oct. 17, in the Crown Point High School Cafeteria, located at 1500 S. Main St.
The second hearing will be held Monday, Oct. 24 in the Kentland Public Library,
located at 201 E. Graham St.
The public may submit advance comments
about the proposal, contract and proposal-evaluation process prior to the
hearing. Those comments may be sent via email to IFA Project Manager Silvia
Perez at sperez@ifa.in.gov, or via mail to One North Capitol, Suite 900,
Indianapolis, IN, 46204. All comments must be submitted no later than 6 p.m. on
Oct. 24.
Public
hearings
INDOT will hold public hearings in Crown
Point on Oct. 17 and in Kentland on Oct. 24 to collect public comment on the
selected proposal. Also, staff from the project team will be available to
answer questions before and after the hearings. Both meetings will begin at 6
p.m. Central Time.
The first hearing will take place Monday,
Oct. 17, in the Crown Point High School Cafeteria, located at 1500 S. Main St.
The second hearing will be held Monday, Oct. 24 in the Kentland Public Library,
located at 201 E. Graham St.
The public may submit advance comments
about the proposal, contract and proposal-evaluation process prior to the
hearing. Those comments may be sent via email to IFA Project Manager Silvia
Perez at sperez@ifa.in.gov, or via mail to One North Capitol, Suite 900,
Indianapolis, IN, 46204. All comments must be submitted no later than 6 p.m. on
Oct. 24.
Stay Informed
Motorists can learn about highway work zones and other traffic
alerts at indot.carsprogram.org, 1-800-261-ROAD (7623)
or 511 from a mobile phone.
Subscribe to receive text and email alerts about INDOT projects
at https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/INDOT/subscriber/new. Find
links to INDOT’s Facebook and Twitter pages at www.in.gov/indot/3074.htm.
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