Design-Build-Finance in the US: The case of iROX, I-75 Road Expansion Project

Abstract

This project is part of the Interstate 75 road expansion, located in Southwest Florida and consisted of an expansion from four to six lanes along a 30-mile stretch. The paper presents a design, build and finance (DBF) approach applied to a US highway. This work focuses on the financial structure of the project, which did not include a concession (operation); the bidding procedure, which took into account an interesting bid evaluation criterion and; project management matters. The information on the case study was acquired by exhaustively examining the documentation of the project and by interviewing the Project Controls Manager. The financial structure used in the project showed that it is possible to extend the payment period beyond the construction deadline without resorting to a toll system. As usual, the bid evaluation criteria of this project included price, time and technical background; however, these aspects were evaluated through the use of a compensated score. Finally, some interesting management aspects of the project are addressed, in order to generate some recommendations for future DBF projects in the US and the world.