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FCC awarded 540 million euro contract for Gerald Desmond Bridge in Los Angeles (US)

30/07/2012

FCC awarded 540 million euro contract for Gerald Desmond Bridge in Los Angeles (US)

  • FCC, the Citizen Services group, is to design and build the replacement for this California landmark in a consortium with Italian company Impregilo and California company Shimmick.
  • The construction project, which will employ over 3,000 workers, will be completed in 2016
  • The Port of Long Beach described the winning proposal as "world class"
FCC awarded 540 million euro contract for Gerald Desmond Bridge in Los Angeles (US)

"The US is a target market for FCC." That declaration made by Baldomero Falcones, Chairman and CEO of FCC, during a visit to New York in March is beginning to be realised. The California Transportation Commission has awarded the contract to design and build a replacement for the obsolete Gerald Desmond bridge in the Port of Long Beach, California, to FCC.

The contract budget amounts to 650 million dollars (approximately 540 million euro). The entire project, which will take five years to complete, was awarded to a consortium comprised of FCC, Shimmick Construction Company Inc. (40%) and Italian company Impregilo S.p.A. (30%). The Port of Long Beach described the winning proposal as "world class".

The historic Gerald Desmond bridge, built in the 1960s, carries 15 per cent of all containerised cargo imported to the United States It connects Terminal Island, the heart of the port complex, with the Port of Long Beach, downtown Long Beach and nearby cities.

The bridge has been designated as a National Highway System Intermodal Connector Route and part of the Federal Strategic Highway Network. The new bridge will improve traffic flow and safety, employ over 3,000 people per year and have a positive impact on the economy of southern California and of the United States as a whole.

The new cable-stayed bridge will have a span of 305 metres and offer 65 metres of vertical clearance over Back Channel, in the Port of Long Beach. It will have three lanes in each direction, emergency lanes on both sides for enhanced safety, a bikeway and a footpath.

The Terminal Island East interchange will use horseshoe-shaped ramps to provide access from the new bridge to Pier T Avenue. To the east, the interchange linking Ocean Boulevard with SR 710, Pico Avenue and Piers E and D will be upgraded. Construction of the new bridge is scheduled for completion in 2016, one year before the entire project is concluded.

Experience in bridge construction
In the last 15 years, FCC has built over one million square metres of bridges of all types using all modern construction methods. Cable-stayed bridges it has constructed include the Alamillo bridge (Seville), the new Elbe bridge in Dresden (Germany), the Otopeni bridge and the Basarab viaduct (both in Bucharest), and the Azud del Oro bridge (Valencia).

It is currently building major bridges such as the Vidin-Calafat bridge linking Bulgaria and Romania, the San Marcos viaduct in Mexico (the world's second-tallest bridge), the Lauter Valley bridge in Germany, the new access bridge to Panama's Centennial Bridge, and the Kafjord bridge in Norway.

FCC in the United States

FCC, the Citizen Services group, is currently bidding for public projects worth 9 billion dollars (6.82 billion euro) in the United States. These projects are in its various areas of activity: infrastructure, services and energy.

FCC Construction completed the I-95 Miami Expressway project, worth 121.5 million dollars, to widen the road in both directions along a 17.7 km stretch in northern Miami. The project won two awards: "Best in Construction 2010" in the category of Design and Construction by the Florida Transportation Builders Association (FTBA), and the AASHTO America's Transportation Award 2009 in the Innovative Management category.

Its environmental services subsidiary, FCC Environmental, ranks second in its industry in the US. It is a leading provider of hydrocarbon services on the East and Gulf Coasts, with over 30 facilities in 22 states. Notably, FCC Environmental participated in the clean-up after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year.

FCC's options in the US market are not confined to infrastructure and concessions. Cemusa, the urban furniture subsidiary, has contracts in Boston and New York where its coverage exceeds 12 million people. In September 2010, it installed the world's first digital kiosks in Times Square, New York City, under the 20-year contract signed in 2006 with the City of New York.
 

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