A bill that will designate 2% of Missouri’s transportation project list as design-build has been signed by the state’s Governor Jay Nixon.

The designation will speed up the highway projects and make them more efficient as it allows the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission to combine the design and construction contracts.

The three projects to be designated as design-build include Highway 40/Interstate 64 reconstruction in St. Louis, the Paseo Bridge project and the 802-bridge “Safe and Sound Bridge Improvement” programme state-wide.

The design-build concept has been instrumental in the large-scale Highway 40/Interstate 64 project in St. Louis, which is running ahead of schedule.

Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission chair Mike Kehoe said that the legislation authorising the limited use of design-build projects will give the state yet another tool in its transportation toolbox to improve the state’s roads and bridges.

The bill also allows the Missouri’s Page Avenue extension in St. Louis County, the State Highway 169 and 96th Street intersection improvement, and the State Highway 92 to Highway E improvement in Smithville, to be designated as design-build.

The design-build bill will help the state compete for a share of $1.5bn in available Recovery Act TIGER Grants, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation.