Experience helped contractor seal bid
The Journal, Tuesday, February 23, 1999

by A.S. Berman (Journal staff writer)

Anyone who has traveled Northern Virginia's highways and byways probably has traversed the work of the Fairfax County contractor set to tackle renovations of the mammoth Springfield Interchange in a few weeks.

During its 25-year history, Shirley Contracting Corp. of Lorton, which last week won a $90.3 million contract to complete Phase 2 and 3 of the eight-part project, has overseen the construction of several of the region's major roadways.

In recent years, the firm has:
Added an 11-mile extension to the high occupancy vehicle lanes on Interstate 95.
Constructed the interchange at Eisenhower Avenue and Interstate 95 in Alexandria.
Realigned and reconstructed 2 ¼ miles of Route 29, including the interchange at the Fairfax County Parkway, and added six bridges in the vicinity.
Widened portions of Route 7 in Leesburg.
Replaced the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Fairfax County.
Added new roads and other improvements to Jack Kent Cooke Stadium.

Dubbed "the Mixing Bowl" by Northern Virginia motorists, the interchange involving I-95, I-395 and I-495 in Springfield handles more than 370,000 vehicles daily and is considered by Virginia Department of Transportation officials to be the worst bottleneck on the Capital Beltway.

The Springfield interchange project will drastically reconstruct the junction where the Capital Beltway meets Shirley Highway, separating local traffic from long-distance traffic. When renovations are completed about eight years and $350 million later, the interchange will comprise 50 bridges and 30 ramps, making it the largest project in VDOT's history.

Although Shirley Contracting won the interchange contract by delivering the lowest bid, keeping the project on schedule is critical, VDOT officials say.

"Shirley Contracting has built many VDOT projects, has kept them on schedule, and has done quality work," said Joan Morris, a VDOT spokeswoman. "We are counting on them to do a stellar job keeping the Springfield interchange construction on schedule."

The company stands to earn an additional $10 million if it completes its phases of the overall renovations by August 2001. But it can also incur a $30,000 penalty-referred to as liquidated damages in the industry-for each day the project is delayed beyond June 1, 2002.

"That's very typical in this business," said Jon Harman, senior project manager for the contracting company. "It's a little bit higher than you would normally see, but it's really based on the nature of the work."

To meet its deadlines, the contractor will be allowed to work 24 hours a day to rebuild the I-95 Interchange at Old Keene Mill and Franconia roads, construct 14 new bridges and widen roads in the vicinity of the interchange. However, it will not be allowed to close lanes during rush hours.

"A lot of our work will be behind temporary concrete barriers," Harman said, "A portion [of the work] won't even interfere with traffic, but there will be the need for lane closures occasionally."

Since it founding in 1974 by Robert Post, Shirley Contacting has handled more than 600 projects.

"[Post] passed away six years ago," Harman said. "At that time, [Shirley Contracting was] acquired by Omni Construction, which is now Clark Construction."

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Clark Construction Group Inc. is one of the largest contractors in the United States, with seven subsidiaries nationwide.

Last year, the corporation posted $1.3 billion in revenues, earning $740 million in the Washington metropolitan area alone, according to sources at the Virginia chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. in Chantilly.

Shirley Contracting also plans to submit bids for the next phases of the interchange project, Harman said.

Meanwhile, as the firm searches for an area near the Springfield interchange to set up a trailer compound as its base of operations, VDOT has set up its own project headquarters less than a mile from the Mixing Bowl.

The department's field office for the project will open in a few weeks in the former Luskin's building on Commerce Street near Springfield Mall.

"Consultants and VDOT engineers [???? the project] will work there," VDOT's Joan Morris said.