SH 183 Managed Lanes Design-Build – Independent Engineer Services

State Highway 183 (Airport Freeway), which stretched 13.5 miles from I‐35E to SH 121, was a primary artery between the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. The corridor carried close to 170,000 vehicles a day, including substantial volumes to and from Dallas‐Fort Worth International Airport and was considered one of the region’s most congested highways. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) awarded a design‐build project, under a development agreement, to increase capacity on the route by constructing one dynamic tolling (or managed) lane in each direction. Lochner served as TxDOT’s independent engineer for this $750 million design‐build project.

To reduce congestion on the surrounding road network, the project also encompassed the construction of one managed lane in each direction on Loop 12 from SH 183 to I‐35E (2.3 miles) and on SH 114 from SH 183 to SH 161 (six miles). A westbound managed lane was constructed on SH 114 from SH 161 to International Parkway (four miles). Substantial portions of the frontage roads and general purpose lanes on all three routes were reconstructed as well as the SH 183 bridge over the Trinity River floodplain. In an owner’s representative role, Lochner oversaw, monitored, and audited the design‐build developer team to ensure that all work conformed with the development agreement. Lochner’s responsibilities included the review of the developer’s professional design services to ensure that the development agreement technical provisions, TxDOT design standards, and project goals were met; program and project management, including schedule compliance monitoring during design and construction; audits of the developer’s design and construction activities; field monitoring and inspection during construction; and the oversight of owner verification testing, with quarterly reporting to TxDOT and the Federal Highway Administration.