$408M Roosevelt Bridge Replacement Breaks Ground at Lake Texoma
Construction has officially launched on the more than $408 million replacement of the 80-year-old Roosevelt Bridge over Lake Texoma, OK Energy Today reports, with a groundbreaking ceremony bringing together Oklahoma Department of Transportation leaders, federal officials and the project’s design-build team.
Market Impact
The US-70 bridge connects Bryan and Marshall counties across the Oklahoma-Texas lake and carries more than 11,000 vehicles daily as a key link between southern Oklahoma, northern Texas and southern Arkansas. Funding includes a $124 million Large Bridge Project award through the Federal Highway Administration’s Bridge Investment Program, which U.S. Sen. James Lankford called “the largest transportation grant in Oklahoma history.”
ODOT Executive Director Tim Gatz said the project “represents what we can accomplish when we come together with a shared commitment to building a stronger state.” The design-build team, Zachry Construction and Traylor Bros., was selected through a “modified progressive design-build” procurement process, the first time ODOT has used this delivery method, which lets the agency contract with multiple design-build teams to collaborate on design and construction planning before finalizing scope. The new structure will be a four-lane bridge with full shoulders, lighting and a pedestrian path, and the current bridge will stay open throughout construction. Completion is targeted for fall 2029.
What It Means for Subcontractors
- Marine and foundation contractors should watch for pier-drilling and deep-foundation subcontract packages tied to the lake’s roughly 65-foot depths near the bridge, already flagged as the project’s top engineering challenge; barges are currently conducting test drilling into the lake bottom.
- Site-prep and clearing crews have work underway now, with tree clearing along US-70 and near the bridge already in progress, an early indicator that grading, erosion control and access-road subcontracts are being mobilized.
- Civil and roadway contractors in Bryan and Marshall counties, Oklahoma, and adjacent Texas counties should track ODOT’s design-build team, Zachry Construction/Traylor Bros., for upcoming approach-road and lighting/safety-feature subcontract releases tied to the US-70 corridor upgrade.
- Environmental and permitting specialists should note ODOT’s ongoing coordination with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on lake-related environmental requirements, a signal that compliance and mitigation subcontracts will factor into the project timeline through 2029.
- Because this is the first Oklahoma project to use ODOT’s modified progressive design-build method, local subs should expect earlier collaboration opportunities with the design-build team during the design phase rather than waiting for a fully finalized bid package.
