SH 288 Toll Lanes P3

Houston, TX
Alternative DeliveryConcessionsDemolitionESGFinancingOperations & MaintenanceP3Roadways/BridgesStructuresTransportation
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Location: Houston, TX
Owner: TXDOT
Construction Company: Almeda-Genoa Contractors (S&B USA Construction was a member)
Project Status: In operations & maintenance since 2016
This project integrated landscape architecture, public art and architecture into roadways and bridges to help Houston boost its public image. The SH 288 links the major employment center of downtown Houston and the Texas Medical Center with the rapidly growing residential communities of Harris and Brazoria Counties. Because of this, the SH 288 is Houston’s third most congested highway. This Greenroads project was a revenue-risk DBFOM project that transformed a 10.3-mile section of the SH 288 from a 6/8 lane highway to a 10/12 lane highway with four toll lanes. Because this was a Greenroads project, it was designed and constructed to be more sustainable than the current standard practice, which will increase its longevity. The construction for this project included 54 bridges and 18 interchange ramps.
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The SH 288 Toll Express Lanes project is a critical commuter road corridor in Houston's urban core, accommodating daily traffic volumes of nearly 170,000 vehicles and over two million toll transactions per month.
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Toll Gantry #1 between US 59 and the IH 610 direct connectors.
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The project included tolling of 41 lane miles of newly constructed express toll lanes along the median of the SH 288 corridor.
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Aerial view of one of the major interchanges.
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The project included reconstruction of two major four-level interchanges and construction of two, three-level direct connectors.
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Close coordination was required to devise and implement innovative design, construction sequence, and traffic maintenance solutions to accelerate construction time and avoid lane closures.

It was a pleasure to work with you and your team, S&B USA, on TxDOT’s SH288 Toll Lanes P3 project. S&B USA was always a partner in helping the state of Texas reach its goal of having better traffic flow on the 3rd most congested highway in Texas, increasing revenue to the state from tolling, and providing better access to the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical center in the world.
-Ba L Trinh, P.E. CPM PCPE, TxDOT

Financing

This project was one of the largest P3s in the United States to reach financial close within the past five years. To finance it, S&B USA Concessions split the debt between a TIFIA loan (55%) and tax-exempt Private Equity Bonds (PAB, 45%). Additional funding was secured through equity and public subsidy, which will be recovered through tolls. S&B USA Concessions holds 21.6% of the total equity for the SH 288 project.

Construction

The Almeda-Genoa Contractors—of which S&B USA Construction held 50%—were responsible for the construction portion of this project. In total, the team built 53 bridges, including 18 new high-level directional flyovers up to 7,000 ft in length (utilizing innovative accelerated bridge construction), 22 new overpass bridges and performed 13 bridge widenings. Furthermore, we reconstructed two major four-level interchanges and created two additional three-level direct connectors—all of which were built in a suburban environment. The interchanges contain long-span, post-tensioned straddle bents and sharply-curved, girder bridges. The total area for the new bridge deck is approximately 1,800,000 sf.

This project also included 19 new toll gantries and 21 new overhead sign structures. The ITS infrastructure for those toll lanes is home to a state-of-the-art all-electronic toll collection system that utilizes time of day congestion pricing to set variable toll rates. To expedite project delivery, S&B USA Construction, as part of the integrated DBJV, divided the project into four segments that were worked on simultaneously.

Operations & Maintenance

The work S&B USA did on SH 288 was part of a 52-year DBFOM project with toll revenue risk that was retained by the concessionaire and TxDOT. The operations and maintenance (O&M) phase commenced in 2020 and is self-performed by the developer, which includes S&B USA Concessions.

S&B USA Concessions, previously a part of BTG, was responsible for all O&M activities throughout the SH 288 concession agreement until its divestment in 2023. This responsibility included the development and integration of a new tolling system capable of interfacing with various systems such as EZTAG, EZTAG Express, TxTag, BANCPASS, NTTA, KTAG, and PIKEPASS. Additionally, they ensured routine preventative maintenance of all renewal and rehabilitation items in compliance with the project's handback requirements prior to the divestment.