Design-Bid-Build on a Fast-Track
I-57 & IL Route 13 Single-Point Interchange
A heavy flow of traffic passes through Marion, IL each day. Three I-57 interchanges all located within a one-mile section compounded the congestion. To provide relief and increase safety, Crawford, Murphy & Tilly (CMT) conducted studies and then proposed a solution not found in the rural regions of southern Illinois – the region’s first Single-Point Interchange. An increasingly common solution in urbanized areas, the Single-Point reduces accident-causing weaving and facilitates the free-flow of right turn movements onto and off of the interstate.
This project was also unique in that CMT was allowed to carry out planning and design activities concurrently to accommodate a commercial development being planned for the area. With completion of the improvements critical to the area’s economic well-being, CMT accelerated the process to deliver all planning and design in just 18 months. This included the Interchange Type Study, Access Justification Report, and Interchange Design Study. The streamlined activities received Federal Highway Administration (FWHA) approval in just nine months. CMT also conducted a Value Engineering (VE) study that produced seven accepted design alternatives, resulting in $4 million in protentional savings.
The I-57 & IL Route 13 Interchange project demonstrates that the conventional design-bid-build method can still provide exceptional results for fast-tracked projects. This project demonstrates that with the proper value-driven methodology, quality control, due diligence and knowledge of construction-phase issues, engineers can accelerate schedules, while controlling costs and optimizing the overall project value.
