In a city stretched across an archipelago and interlaced with complex roads and rail lines, safe bridges are vital parts of public infrastructure: more than 16 million vehicles and thousands of pedestrians cross New York City’s 789 bridges daily.¹ Maintaining, rehabilitating, and occasionally replacing these bridges requires substantial and consistent investment.  Since 2006, New York City has committed $4.6 billion to its bridges and plans to spend $7.7 billion more over the next 10 years.² To complete these projects in a cost-effective manner, New York City officials have requested from New York State statutory authority to use “design-build,” a method of contracting for construction projects that has demonstrated positive results in New York and other states. State legislators should enable New York City to benefit from this approach: if it realized savings on par with the State’s experience, the City could save $2 billion over 10 years.

The Challenge: Fixing Old Infrastructure that is Heavily Used

Since a low point in 1980s when major bridges had to be closed, the City has been steadily funding capital improvements in bridges so that, as of 2014, it no longer has any bridge rated “poor.”³  Nevertheless, the City’s bridges are old, heavily used, and require constant upkeep. The median age for a City-owned bridge is 80 years, nearly twice the national median of 42, and City bridges have nearly three times more vehicle traffic than elsewhere in the nation.⁴  Wear and tear have led to 82 City-owned bridges being classified as structurally deficient, meaning they have a significant defect that requires monitoring.⁵ Twenty-four bridges, including the Queensboro, Williamsburg, and Brooklyn, operate under partial weight restrictions that constrain the flow of traffic.⁶  Another 494 functionally obsolete bridges are safe, but do not meet modern design standards and may require investments to accommodate current traffic demand or improve traffic flow.⁷

The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) is addressing the challenge, but its project delivery has been troubled. Table 1 lists the $3.8 billion in bridge projects NYCDOT is currently undertaking. Of the 20 projects, 14 are experiencing delays, ranging from two months to nearly three years, and all but 1 have suffered cost increases.  The majority of projects experienced cost increases greater than 10 percent of the original estimate.  Overall, the projects are 45 percent over budget.⁸

The available information indicates most New York City bridge projects encounter unforeseen field conditions or require a change to the project and, by extension, project design.  Changes made after a project has been approved require a “change order” to authorize the alteration to design, work plan, or cost.  Change orders almost always increase costs and extend project timelines: design change orders increased the cost of NYCDOT contracts by 20 percent in fiscal year 2015; processing time for the change orders averaged 40 days.⁹

How Other Places – and New York State – Are Doing Better

Delays and cost overruns are all too common for public sector infrastructure projects. Facing these challenges, some states have turned to design-build and other more integrative procurement strategies. Design-build eschews the traditional “design-bid-build” process of separate, sequential contracts for each phase of the project. Instead, responsibility for design and construction are bundled together in a single contract, often awarded on the basis of “best value” rather than lowest cost.¹⁰ Typically, a design-builder commits to a total cost specified in a contract, thereby assuming most of the risk associated with delays and cost overruns.¹¹ Collaboration between design and construction teams avoids costly change orders in the middle of construction; construction work can begin before designs are completed, experience on the ground informs the final designs, and all parties can cooperate to offer innovative solutions to challenges as they arise—without waiting for bureaucratic approval.  

The State legislation authorized design-build for certain State agencies and authorities in 2011, and the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) has used it for big projects, such as the first phase of the Kosciuszko Bridge replacement and the construction of the New NY Bridge, with positive results.¹² It has also been part of a successful strategy to improve and rehabilitate smaller bridges statewide.  The first phase of the Accelerated Bridge Program, launched in 2012, bundled bridges into design-build contracts by region and produced an estimated savings of 27 percent over design-bid-build processes.¹³

Other states have also relied on this bundled approach. In 2003 Oregon bundled its bridges into 11 design-build contracts worth $445 million. These contracts were completed ahead of an expected design-bid-build schedule, with a median acceleration of 15 months. Moreover, Oregon estimated savings of 8 percent by procuring these projects with design-build contracts.¹⁴ Missouri undertook a statewide bridge repair and replacement program that included a $487 million design-build contract to replace 554 bridges. This contract was completed in 2014, 14 months ahead of schedule and under budget.¹⁵ Pennsylvania has gone further, launching a statewide bridge program that includes not just design-build but also maintenance responsibilities for 25 years. Pennsylvania expects to save 20 percent over conventional procurement over the life of the contract.¹⁶

Conclusion

New York State’s authorization of design-build contracting in 2011 was limited and did not extend to local governments; New York City officials, including the Mayor, NYCDOT Commissioner, and Budget Director, have asked the Legislature to grant the City this authority.[17]  The legislature should honor this request and include design-build authority for NYCDOT in the budget bills. The State’s experience indicates that NYCDOT can benefit significantly from design-build by completing a greater number of projects on time and on budget. With $7.7 billion in bridge work planned for fiscal years 2016 to 2025, realizing savings as great as NYSDOT’s Accelerated Bridge Program would save as much as $2 billion over 10 years.