Early in 1997, the first phase of the $1 billion, 69 km all-electronic Highway 407ETR Express Toll route in the Greater Toronto Area opened to traffic, just two and a half years after start of construction. The project is being developed, designed constructed and operated and maintained through an innovative public-private partnership between the Ontario government through the Ontario Transportation Capital Corporation (OTCC) and Canadian Highways International Corporation (CHIC) under the single largest public infrastructure contract in the country's history. Phase two is scheduled for opening before the end of 1998. Traditionally in Ontario the delivery approach for large highway construction projects had been to divide them into multiple design and construction packages and procure each package through a design/bid/construct approach. Under such a process, and with limited annual budget allocations, Highway 407 was scheduled to be delivered over a 20 year period. A new approach was required to deliver the project in a four year period and at a lower cost. With less than 30% of the design completed, design, approvals and construction had to proceed concurrently rather than "tail-to-tail" through traditional methods. This paper discusses the design/build approach for Highway 407 as implemented by CHIC and OTCC. Comparisons are made with traditional project delivery by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO). The primary aspects reviewed include: Single Point Responsibility; Integrated Team Approach; Proactive Review Process; Staged Design Delivery, Focused Contract Design/Documentation Product; and Focused Quality Assurance. (A)
Abstract