Practical Design solutions results in a $19 million savings on construction

CMT Leads Design of I-70 Interchange Project for New Mississippi River Bridge

JUN 9, 2011: The original program construction cost to connect a relocated portion of the I-70 to the new Mississippi River Bridge came in at $43.9 million. As lead designers of the I-70 interchange project, Crawford, Murphy & Tilly spearheaded an effort to incorporate Missouri Department of Transportation’s (MoDOT) “Practical Design” principles into the design by identifying and implementing alternatives that resulted in cost savings of over $19 million, or 38 percent of the programmed budget.

CMT was selected to lead the interchange project based on its past success on MoDOT projects, and in particular for the firm’s ability to reduce construction costs through innovative thinking. A key element was a Practical Design workshop led by CMT, that included MoDOT and FHWA staff among others, where 63 cost-saving ideas were generated, 18 of which were further refined and included into the final design.

“I am especially impressed with (CMT’s) implementation of the Practical Design workshop, which proved to save millions of dollars in reduced construction costs. Those types of efforts fall right in line with MoDOT’s direction to strive to become as efficient as possible so more money can be put on the road to maintain our system in these times of falling revenue,” said Greg Horn, PE, MoDOT project manager.

The new Mississippi River Bridge is a long-awaited project that will move I-70 off of the heavily-traveled Poplar Street Bridge, which carries two other interstates across the river near downtown St. Louis. This major transportation initiative will improve safety and decrease congestion at this storied Gateway to the West. CMT is honored to be playing such a significant role on a project that is capturing national attention, but even more proud that their work is living up to MoDOT’s standards

“(CMT) staff were professional, responsive, available, honest and very accommodating during the project. Their commitment to providing very timely responses to issues that arose at critical times during the design were unsurpassed, and played a critical role in keeping the entire MRB Corridor on schedule,” Horn said.

Crawford, Murphy & Tilly, Inc. is a full-service consulting firm focused on four markets: aviation, highways and bridges, water and wastewater, and land development. CMT provides planning, design, and construction observation phase services on projects that range from simple to complex.