The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PDOT) is looking to select a team from the private sector to replace around 558 old bridges in the state.

The move is part of the department’s Rapid Bridge Replacement initiative, which aims to replace old bridges quickly and save taxpayers’ money.

Under the programme, which is based on the public-private partnership (PPP) model, the private team will also maintain the replaced bridges for 25 years.

According to PDOT secretary Barry Schoch, the conventional contract to replace bridges would take eight to 12 years. However, with PPP this can be reduced to four years.

"We believe we’re going to be able to deliver these at a much lower cost and in a much smaller time frame."

Schoch said: "We believe we’re going to be able to deliver these at a much lower cost and in a much smaller time frame."

Four private firms, which are competing for the contract, must submit their bids by 29 September 2014. PDOT will announce the winner at the end of October.

The four competing teams are Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners, Keystone Bridge Partners, Commonwealth Bridge Partners and Pennsylvania Crossings.

The cost of the project is expected to exceed $100m per year, which is around 5% less than the PDOT’s annual budget of $2.3bn for road and bridge projects in the state.

Construction works on the bridges is expected to start in mid-2015 and the bridges are expected to be completed by mid-2018.