Officials say the massive efforts to manage turtles, trout and tempers are in- dicative of how highway builders must act in a new age. “What we’re seeing with the ICC will become more of the rule rather than the exception,” says SHA project manager Melinda Peters.

After nearly a half-century of legal challenges before major construction could begin in fall 2007, the highway taking shape between Interstate 270 in Gaithersburg and the I-95 corridor near Laurel is much different than it would have been if it had been built when first proposed. What once would have been a major design-bid-build effort is being delivered concurrently under separate contracts by three design-build consortiums. InterCounty Constructors, a joint venture led by Granite Construction Co., Watsonville, Calif., is handling the initial 7.2-mile, $478.7-million segment set to open later this year.

MD200 Constructors—a joint venture of Kiewit Southern Co., G.A. & F.C. Wagman Inc. and Corman Construction Inc.—is handling the middle 6.9-mile, $559.7-million segment. ICC Constructors, a joint venture led by Shirley Contracting Co. and Clark Construction Group, is working on the $513.9- million, 2.7-mile connection to I-95. Those segments are scheduled to open in 2012. For three miles of collector-distributor lanes, part of the I-95 interchange and a 1-mile extension to U.S. Route 1, two contracts totaling $150 million, are on hold.

The completed ICC will become part of the Maryland Transportation Authority’s network of toll roads, which rely exclusively on electronic collection systems. State funds for the project are supplemented by a $750-million Guaranteed Anticipated Revenue Vehicle bond and another $19 million in federal funds. The remaining $103 million, not required until fiscal years 2015 through 2017, will be identified later............read more