Texas DOT on Sept. 27 made a conditional award of a $1-billion design-build contract and capital maintenance agreement to a team including Zachry/Odebrecht/Jacobs Transportation/and Infrastructure Corp. of America for building three new segments of the Grand Parkway around Houston. The electronically tolled four-lane highway will be  Houston’s third beltway. The new construction is for 37 miles of the total 180-mile highway.

TxDOT sought qualifications for both a concession and DBFOM, and shortlisted five teams for the latter approach in February (PWF 2/12, p. 13). Zachry-Odebrecht’s price was $150 million under TexDOT’s estimate and it  offered the earliest completion, seven months ahead of TxDOT’s outside deadline.