The new 12 km portion of the East End Crossing connecting the U.S. states of Indiana and Kentucky was inaugurated on 18 December 2016 at a ceremony attended by Eric Holcomb, governor of Indiana, and Matt Bevin, governor of Kentucky, as well as Alain Bonnot, Chairman of VINCI Construction Grands Projets, and Matthew Walsh Co-Chairman of The Walsh Group.
The opening of this infrastructure connecting Louisville, Kentucky and southern Indiana improves traffic flow and safety. The concession consortium led by VINCI Highways, VINCI Concessions’ subsidiary, is responsible for operation and maintenance of a major portion of the East End Crossing infrastructure for a period of 35 years. The consortium will be remunerated via availability-based fees.
The project was carried out under a PPP contract with a value of nearly $1 billion (€956 billion) signed in March 2013 by Indiana Finance Authority and the concession company WVB East End Partners, made up, in equal shares, of VINCI Highways, Walsh Investors and Bilfinger PI. It is one of the largest transportation improvement projects in the United States and VINCI’s first road infrastructure PPP in that country.
The opening of the motorway to the public marks the culmination of four years of design and construction work carried out by a joint venture made up of Walsh Construction (60%) and VINCI Construction Grands Projets (40%).
The new infrastructure includes a 762 metres cable-stayed bridge over the Ohio River with two iconic diamond-shaped piers, a 512 metres dual-tube tunnel on the Kentucky approach to the bridge, 19 standard engineering structures and road network and associated infrastructure upgrades. The construction phase was successful in terms of safety, with more than 1,100 days worked without lost-time accident.
Exemplary social, environmental and economic impact
The social and economic impact of the project, planned for half a century, will be reflected through the creation of thousands of jobs in the two states in coming years. In November 2016 the project received an EnvisionTM Platinum Award (Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure - Harvard Graduate School of Design) for its sustainable design, construction and operation.
The handover of this infrastructure constitutes a further success for VINCI’s design-build and concession model. United States is the Group’s fourth market.
