The project will replace the existing two-lane bridge with a new four-lane structure. Credit: Skanska.

As a joint venture partner of Corman Kokosing Construction Company and McLean Contracting Company, Skanska has signed a contract with Maryland Department of Transportation to construct a new bridge over the Potomac River in Maryland, the US.

Under the $301m contract, Skanska will design and build the Governor Harry W Nice Memorial / Senator Thomas ‘Mac’ Middleton Bridge.

Skanska noted that it will include its share of the contract in the US order bookings for the first quarter of 2020.

The project will involve the replacement of the existing two-lane bridge with a new four-lane structure that will be about 3km long.

The existing bridge connects Newburg in Maryland with Dahlgren in Virginia.

In addition, the project will include the construction of nearly 800m of road on either side of the bridge, as well as roadway realignment works.

The new bridge will also feature an all-electronic tolling (AET) system.

Construction work at the site will begin this March and the new bridge is expected to open by 2023.

Upon completion, the existing two-lane bridge will be demolished and used for creating artificial reefs in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

In October 2018, Skanska won a contract from the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) to rehabilitate the Manhattan Bridge in the US.

The bridge was built in 1909, and is said to be the most heavily travelled East River bridge, with more than 85,000 vehicles, 4,000 cyclists, and 340,000 transit riders travelling across it every day.

Skanska was responsible for executing considerable structural and component rehabilitation on a number of aspects of the bridge.