Ferrovial
Ferrovial Construction and Webber will be involved in building elevated managed lanes. Credit: Ada K / Pixabay.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has awarded a $1.5bn design-build project in San Antonio to Ferrovial’s subsidiaries Ferrovial Construction and Webber.

The Interstate 35 (I-35) Northeast Expansion (NEX) project will involve designing, building and maintaining almost 9.5 miles of non-tolled improvements along the I-35, including building around 18 miles of elevated main roads.

The project’s scope covers the construction of elevated managed lanes between the existing main lanes and frontage roads, as well as eight bridges.

The firms will also be responsible for rebuilding and widening the Loop 1604 general-purpose lanes and bridges.

The project covers the cities of San Antonio, Live Oak, Selma and Schertz in Bexar and Guadalupe Counties.

It will include more than 800 spans of bridge construction, 4,500 concrete beams, 31Mlb of steel girders and six million square feet of bridge decks.

Construction works are due to begin next year and will take six years to complete.

The existing I-35 corridor covers almost 550 miles across Texas from the Mexican border to the Oklahoma state line.

It is considered the largest interstate highway connecting Mexico and Canada through the US heartland, carrying most of Mexico’s trade with the US and Canada via commercial trucks.

Ferrovial Construction US CEO Angel Luis Sanchez said: “We look forward to using our respective companies’ strengths and our collective commitment to innovation for the benefit of Texas drivers who use the I-35 daily to meet work and family obligations.

“The combination of Ferrovial Construction’s track record of successfully managing large, complex infrastructure projects in the US with Webber’s strong self-performing capabilities will yield another transformational mobility solution for one of the most congested roadways in our state.”

In November, Ferrovial subsidiary Cintra acquired an additional 15% stake in I-77 Mobility Partners (I-77MP) after reaching an agreement with existing shareholders.