Ditchmen • NUCA of Florida Ditchmen • May 2017 | Page 4

I-4 ULTIMATE RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT
by Sarah Matin, PE
Rinker Materials,
Technical Promotions
Engineer
The I-4 Ultimate
Reconstruction project is
the largest Infrastructure
Project the Florida
Department (FDOT)
has ever constructed.
It is located in Central
Florida within District 5
of the FDOT. The project
includes 21-miles of
reconstruction from west
of Kirkman Road in Orange
County to east of SR 434 in
Seminole County with four
new tolled express lanes
(two in each direction)
13 widened bridges, 74
replaced bridges and 53
new bridges.
The project is being
funded via a Public Private
Partnership (P3). FDOT
didn’t have enough
funding available for the
I-4 Ultimate project. FDOT
procured half of the $2.3
billion needed for the
project in 2014. Due to
inflation and increases
in fuel efficiency, FDOT
is unable to keep pace
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DITCHMEN • MAY 2017
with growing demands on
the statewide interstate
system. The P3 funding
mechanism allows FDOT
to bring this project to
the public now to meet
current needs. It would
take 27 years to complete
this project via traditional
funding sources. By using
the P3 procurement
method, the design and
construction will be done
in less than seven years.
The FDOT’s schedule
shows the project to be
completed by 2021. The
project is currently the
largest construction project
in the Southeast.
The project contract has
a financial set up with a
concessionaire, I-4 Mobility
Partners, the constructors
of the project are SGL
(Skanska, Granite and
Lane Corporations). The
concessionaire will be
keeping ownership of the
project for 40 years. At
that point, the ownership
will be transitioned back
to the FDOT. The grand
task of construction and
maintenance requires
dependable and durable
material selection. SGL
chose to use concrete
pipe solely on this project,
as it will be maintaining
ownership of the 21 mile
stretch of roadway for 40
years. Rinker Materials
is supplying the project
with over 400,000 linear
feet of concrete pipe,
sizes ranging from 15”
to 96”, which equates to
over 5,000 truckloads of
materials. The material
cost for concrete pipe is
approximately $16 million
dollars. Rinker Materials
is excited to be part of
such a groundbreaking
project for Central Florida,
the Florida Department
of Transportation and the
underground infrastructure
community. The I-4
Ultimate project reaffirms
concrete pipe’s rigid,
rugged, and resilient
properties, while showing
that concrete pipe is able
to perform under the most
adverse conditions for the
most demanding clients
without compromising
long term performance.
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