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Advancing Construction for the Harris County Toll Road Authority

Advancing Construction for the Harris County Toll Road Authority
Harris County Toll Road Authority​ Houston, Texas, USA
​Harris County is relying on CDM Smith to provide construction engineering and inspection (CEI) services to keep three projects on track as they deliver on their mission of making it easier to get around Greater Houston.
Harris County, Texas, home to Houston, is the United States’ third-most populous county with more than 4.5 million residents. Charged with maintaining regional mobility for county residents and the Greater Houston area, the Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) administers and operates a 127-mile toll road network. As HCTRA’s CEI consultant, CDM Smith has worked with the agency to manage the successful construction of three infrastructure improvement projects.
CEI cement truck

To improve traffic flow and increase capacity on Hardy Toll Road, HCTRA led a $150 million effort to widen the road to three lanes in each direction.

CEI road work

The Hardy Toll Road project includes upgrades to safety, lighting and roadway infrastructure, as well as the implementation of open-road tolling.

CEI construction work

HCTRA's $12.6 million project on the Sam Houston Tollway consists of the installation of eight tolled exit and entrance ramps and computerized active traffic management systems.

CEI bridgework

One of HCTRA's projects on the Sam Houston Tollway  includes landscaping upgrades at multiple locations and construc­tion of three sound walls between West Airport Boulevard and Hiram Clarke Road.

CEI cement pour

Keeping HCTRA's projects on pace, CDM Smith is providing a mix of CEI services, including construction project management and inspection, construction schedule review, and project document control.

The Road to the Super Bowl
At 21.6 miles long, the Hardy Toll Road con­nects In­ter­state 610, near cen­tral Hous­ton, to the north­ern lim­its of Har­ris County and In­ter­state 45, and also pro­vides ac­cess to the George Bush In­ter­con­ti­nen­tal Air­port. To im­prove traf­fic flow and in­crease ca­pac­ity on the road, which was first opened in 1988, HCTRA led a $150 mil­lion ef­fort to widen Hardy Toll Road to three lanes in each di­rec­tion, up­grade safety, light­ing and road­way in­fra­struc­ture, and im­ple­ment open-road tolling. CDM Smith pro­vided CEI ser­vices for a seg­ment of the pro­ject—the widen­ing of north­bound lanes from the Hardy North Toll Plaza to State High­way 99 (also known as the Grand Park­way). Sched­ule was one of the pro­ject’s major dri­vers, as con­struc­tion needed to be com­pleted by early 2017, in time to ac­com­mo­date an in­flux of traf­fic for Super Bowl 51, which was held in Hous­ton’s NRG Sta­dium. Keep­ing the pro­ject on pace, CDM Smith pro­vided con­struc­tion pro­ject man­age­ment and in­spec­tion, con­struc­tion sched­ule re­view, and pro­ject doc­u­ment con­trol, help­ing HCTRA meet its goal.
tolled entrance and exit ramps
8
tolled entrance and exit ramps
$
project cost
$ 12.6M
project cost
In­tel­li­gent Tolling
In ad­di­tion, CDM Smith is pro­vid­ing sim­i­lar ser­vices—pro­ject man­age­ment, con­struc­tion en­gi­neer­ing and in­spec­tion, con­struc­tion sched­ule re­view, and pro­ject doc­u­ment con­trol ser­vices— to HCTRA for toll sys­tem up­grades on the Sam Hous­ton Toll­way. The road is one of three high­ways en­cir­cling Hous­ton. The $12.6 mil­lion pro­ject con­sists of the in­stal­la­tion of eight tolled exit and en­trance ramps and com­put­er­ized ac­tive traf­fic man­age­ment sys­tems on the toll­way’s south­bound lanes be­tween State Highway 288 and In­ter­state 45. This pro­ject is a small part of a larger ca­pac­ity ex­pan­sion con­tract, which will con­tinue the widen­ing of the Sam Hous­ton Toll­way from its cur­rent two lanes in each di­rec­tion to four lanes in each di­rec­tion be­tween State High­way 288 and In­ter­state 45 South and will also in­clude the con­struc­tion of an in­side safety shoul­der. The es­ti­mated cost for this pro­ject is $200 mil­lion. Con­struc­tion is ex­pected to be com­plete in Spring 2019.
By providing these services, CDM Smith is helping HCTRA maintain good operating condition of its infrastructure for years to come.
CEI On Call
CDM Smith’s at the ready, pro­vid­ing CEI ser­vices on an on-call basis for HCTRA for an ad­di­tional pro­ject along the Sam Hous­ton Toll­way. The pro­ject in­cludes land­scap­ing up­grades at mul­ti­ple lo­ca­tions on the toll­way and con­struc­tion of three sound walls be­tween West Air­port Boule­vard and Hiram Clarke Road. Total con­struc­tion costs are an es­ti­mated $5.65 mil­lion. In ad­di­tion to con­struc­tion pro­ject man­age­ment and in­spec­tion, con­struc­tion sched­ule re­view and doc­u­ment con­trol ser­vices, CDM Smith is co­or­di­nat­ing ma­te­ri­als test­ing per­son­nel, man­ag­ing sub-con­trac­tor sched­ules, re­spond­ing to and track­ing re­quests for in­for­ma­tion, and re­view­ing re­quired pro­ject shop draw­ings. By pro­vid­ing these ser­vices, CDM Smith is help­ing HCTRA main­tain good op­er­at­ing con­di­tion of its in­fra­struc­ture for years to come.
Dan Cogan Dan Cogan
Harris County relied on CDM Smith to deliver this project, because we're responsive, proactive, knowledgeable and dependable.
Project Details

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