State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

New York Slow to Embrace Approach That Streamlines Building Projects

The New York Times: The replacement of the Kosciuszko Bridge, a vital link between Brooklyn and Queens, with a new crossing has succeeded where many New York transportation projects have failed. It is on time and on budget.

The first of two side-by-side, cable-stayed bridges will open in the spring, just three years after state transportation officials awarded $555 million to a project team. It was built using a contracting process that saves time and money by bundling together the design and construction phases of a project instead of carrying them out separately.

This integrated approach — known as “design-build” versus “design-bid-build” — eliminates the need for two separate contracts and bidding processes, reduces the lag time after a design is completed but construction has yet to begin, and ensures closer coordination among project owners, architects, engineers and construction workers from the start.

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