LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department is weighing whether to add a “change order” to the $78 million project to remake the Interstate 630/Interstate 430 interchange in an effort to end the work quicker at the busy west Little Rock traffic choke point.
The change order, an alteration in a project contract that lets the department avoid going back through a bid process, would add millions of dollars to what the department said is the single largest highway construction contract it has ever awarded. By using a change order to the contract awarded to Weaver-Bailey Contractors of El Paso, Ark., and Manhattan Road and Bridge Co. of Oklahoma City instead of seeking bids for a separate contract, highway officials believe it would shorten the time workers would be at the interchange.
“That’s a big change order,” said Tom Schueck, a member of the Arkansas Highway Commission, which was briefed on the proposal and signed off on it.
But state highway officials think the payoff will be worth it for all involved, particularly motorists.
“The original plan was for this to be in that contract but because of the uncertainty of funding, particularly at the federal level, we pulled it,” said Randy Ort, a department spokesman.
But bids for other contracts have been lower than expected, leaving the department with more cushion and the certainty of federal funding has made adding the work more viable, he said. It also stands to benefit motorists.
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“It makes more sense to put this work in the current contract rather than complete this one and come back and disrupt traffic again,” Ort said. “If everything works out, it will be seamless for us, it will be seamless for the contractor and, more importantly, it will be seamless for the motorist.
“It will likely add some time to the current contract but not as much if this one was completed and another one began.”
The change order became feasible when the department realized it might have the money available to complete the final phase of the project. Thinking the money wasn’t available, the department didn’t include in the $78 million contract the construction of the deck and installation beams to support it on an elevated, or “flyover,” ramp shifting traffic from Interstate 630 west to Interstate 430 south.
“If the timing is right and the cost is right, this is something we’d like to pursue,” Frank Vozel, the department’s deputy director and chief engineer, told the Highway Commission on Wednesday.
Change orders are common in construction contracts. They are allowed, typically, when the scope of work changes unexpectedly, such as requiring significantly more excavation or more concrete, asphalt or other pay item than was specified in the original contract.
No one would say precisely how much the change order would add to the contract, but the department has no maximum limit in terms of dollars or in terms of percentages for change orders, Ort said. Still, because the amount likely was significant, state highway officials wanted commission approval before proceeding.
“This is an unusually large change order,” Ort said. “But this is an unusually large contract.”
But the plans already are completed, no new right of way needs to be acquired and it has environmental clearance, all potential impediments to change orders, Ort said. Further, the existing contract already included part of the flyover, including the piers, the columns and the footings.
The change order would be executed based on the original price in the contract, Vozel said. The contractor would have to agree to the change order before it could be executed, Ort said.
Consideration of the change order came a week after state highway officials gave a briefing on the status of the project, which will provide an ongoing challenge to motorists on the heavily traveled interchange over the next two years. The work is designed to reduce congestion now and for the foreseeable future.
About 99,000 vehicles travel through the interchange on I-430 daily. On I-630 at the same location, the count reaches about 109,000 per day. Highway planners project daily traffic on I-430 will climb nearly 33 percent in 20 years - to 131,000. Nearly 153,000 vehicles are projected to travel daily on I-630 in 20 years.
Work on the interchange began in January 2009 when Weaver-Bailey Contractors began the first phase with a $17.3 million contract that included construction of an additional lane for motorists traveling from I-630 west to I-430 north, relocating the route motorists use to go from I-430 south to Financial Centre Parkway west, and new traffic signals and intersection improvements at South Shackleford Road and Hermitage Drive and Financial Centre Parkway and Hermitage Drive.
An $18 million project that began in July 2009 mainly involved modifications for future improvements, with the most significant aspect being removal and reconstruction of the I-430 bridge over I-630.
Planning for the entire project began in 2005 - 30 years after I-430 opened and 18 years after the interchange opened - when Bridgefarmer and Associates of Dallas was hired to study the interchange and make recommendations.
The ultimate design includes several flyover ramps between the two interstates - to replace the existing loops - and a ramp over South Shackleford Road for traffic between Financial Centre Parkway and I-630. The project also eventually will include expanding I-630 to eight lanes east to John Barrow Road.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/14/2011