New state contracting option could ease Talmadge Bridge project
Transportation planners may be able to use legislation the General Assembly passed recently originally aimed at freight rail to make more room for large cargo ships calling at the Port of Savannah.
A bill lawmakers approved on the last day of this year’s legislative session authorizes the state to seek private investment to help finance improvements to Georgia’s freight-rail network.
But provisions the state Senate tacked onto a measure that originated in the Georgia House of Representatives add a new dimension.
Besides the freight rail piece, the final version of the bill would give the state Department of Transportation a new method of contracting for major projects the agency could use to raise the Talmadge Bridge to accommodate a new generation of huge containerizedcargo ships calling increasingly at the port’s Garden City Terminal.
“We know what we’d like to achieve is the raise the bridge,” Georgia Commissioner of Transportation
ATLANTA —
Massive cranes move freight containers on and off trains that run between the inland port and the port at Savannah. The growth in warehouse and distribution facilities in Floyd, Gordon and Bartow counties has been unabated by the pandemic. Commissioner Russell McThe commission reported Murry said Friday. “The questhe state needs up to $1.5 billion tion is how much and how a year to move growing do you do it?” volumes of freight smoothly
The underlying freight through Georgia. rail component of the The bill dedicates bill, now on its way to the state’s 4% sales tax Gov. Brian Kemp’s on diesel fuel used in desk, stems from two locomotives to freight years of work by the rail projects, but that Georgia Freight & Logistics would only generate Commission, a $4 million to $5 million panel of lawmakers, a year. local elected officials, To start drawing business leaders and down the rest, the legislation logistics industry executives. authorizes the state Bartow County Sole Commissioner to enter into public-private Steve Taylor is a partnerships with the freight member. rail industry, a model that is proving successful in building a network of toll lanes in metro Atlanta.
‘Public benefit’
Rail companies would be allowed to help finance projects that have been deemed of benefit to the public.
Seth Millican, executive director of the Georgia Transportation Alliance, an affiliate of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, said additional rail sidings and grade separations at rail crossings would qualify as public benefits because they would improve safety and ease traffic flow.
“Particularly in rural communities, you have the issue of blocked crossings,” he said. “If you’ve been stuck trying to get your kids to school or to a doctor’s appointment, there’s a pretty practical implication.”
Millican said the need to improve Georgia’s freight rail network has grown more acute during the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused e-commerce to explode.
“We’re seeing a dramatic increase in people transitioning from shopping in stores to e-commerce,” he said. “It’s an overwhelming change in spending habits.”
The pandemic also has contributed to strong growth at the Port of Savannah, encouraging transportation planners to think about raising the Talmadge Bridge, which at its current height hampers the free flow of cargo into and out of the port during high tides.
Mcmurry said the project is in its earliest stages, with no timetable set or price tag determined. The contracting provisions in the new bill would help the DOT find the answers to those questions, he said.
Mcmurry said the legislation provides for a “construction manager/general contractor” approach that differs from the DOT’S traditional method of contracting and the design-build model the agency has been using for a few years.
Traditionally, the DOT decides to do a project, receives bids for the work and selects separate contractors to design and build it. Under the design-build model, the agency hires a contractor to both design and build a project.
“This is in the middle,” Mcmurry explained. “We hire a designer and a contractor to work with the designer as a team. They design the project up to a point at which a decision can be made.”
Once a decision is made to move forward with a project, the DOT either can ask the contracting team for a price to close the deal or can put the project out to bid, the commissioner said.
The construction manager/ general contractor approach ran into criticism as it went through the committee review process in the General Assembly.
“The contractor and the department reach an agreement that doesn’t seem to involve any competition,” said Neill Herring, a lobbyist for the Georgia chapter of the Sierra Club. “It’s a seller’s market. … Why couldn’t they have gone through the normal process?”
House Transportation Committee Chairman Rick Jasperse, R-jasper, defended the measure on the House floor shortly before lawmakers gave it final passage.
“This is in no way a no-bid contracting bill,” he said. “Contractors would not allow that to happen. This is their bread and butter.”