This morning at the Administrator's Award Ceremony for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in Washington, D.C., the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) was recognized with an "Excellence in Teamwork Award" for the Route 6/10 Interchange Project in Providence.
The award, which also recognizes the FHWA Rhode Island Division staff and the design-build team 6/10 Constructors Joint Venture, credits the project's cost-saving innovations, green technology deployment and Every Day Counts (EDC) initiatives for successfully bringing the project to its current state of progress.
"RIDOT has been successfully using design-build methodology for the last seven years for complex, large-scale projects," RIDOT Director Peter Alviti, Jr. said. "This award validates RIDOT's use of design-build contracts to provide a better final project for the taxpayers of Rhode Island."
The design-build process is advantageous because it often provides innovative solutions to the construction of the project, including keeping traffic moving through busy transportation corridors with the least amount of disruption possible. It also allows design and construction activities to take place at the same time, reducing the overall duration of a project. It also allows for early collaboration between those designing the project and the construction contractor, which translates into project risk mitigation and reduced constructability conflicts (less finger pointing).
RIDOT's $410 million Route 6/10 Interchange project is the largest Design-Build Project in the Department's history. It is completely rebuilding the interchange, which carries about 100,000 vehicles per day, replacing deficient roads and bridges with safe, modern structures with improved traffic flow that will contribute to reduced vehicle emissions. Seven structurally deficient bridges are being replaced. RIDOT will build a total of nine bridges including the signature flyover bridge from Route 10 North to Route 6 West which opened in 2021.