Balfour Beatty, as part of Colorado River Constructors (CRC) joint venture team, successfully set the first bridge beams that support widening activities east of US 290 and SH 71 “Y” interchange in Austin, Texas on the $674m Oak Hill Parkway project
The 10 bridge beams were set in one night, set by cranes on bearing pads atop of previously constructed columns and caps. The next phase of the Oak Hill Parkway project will involve widening operations on Old Fredericksburg Road, which include installing permanent metal decking, forming bridge overhangs and setting rebar for future bridge decks and barriers.
The process will be repeated at Monterey Oaks Boulevard in the next few weeks. The Oak Hill Parkway project is scheduled for completion in 2026.
John Rempe, PE, Balfour Beatty executive vice president and region manager of Civils Operations in the Southwest commented: “I commend our bridge teams for their collaboration in safely performing this operation that serves as a step forward in alleviating traffic congestion and improving long-term mobility along US 290 and SH 71 in Austin.”
The project team continues to work on the construction of more than 10 different retaining walls along the project’s corridor which are a mix of soil nail walls, cast-in-place walls and drilled shaft sound walls. The delivery of more than 10 bridge structures is also underway where team members have completed drilled shafts, columns, caps, abutments, and now concrete bridge beams. Almost 400,000 cubic yards have been excavated to date, of an estimated 2 million cubic yards, to complete the project.
The Oak Hill Parkway project aims to reduce congestion on one of Texas’s most congested highways
Once complete, the Oak Hill Parkway project will reconstruct and widen US 290 from the east end of Circle Drive to Loop 1 (MoPac Expressway) and SH 71 from US 290 to Silvermine Drive. The newly designed roadway will consist of constructing two to three main lanes as well as adding two to three frontage-road lanes in each direction. An overpass for the US 290 main lanes over William Cannon Drive will also be built, along with direct-connect flyovers between US 290 and SH 71.
Additional project components include facility for bicycle and pedestrians, cross-street intersection improvements, U-turn lanes, upstream water detention, storm water detention and water quality treatment ponds.
