$75-Million Mediated Settlement Identifies No Cause in Collapse

Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority has settled in full with the insurers of URS Corp., San Francisco, for $74.75 million in claims for the 2004 collapse of a section of elevated highway during construction. Three piers sank under a 140-ft post-tensioned section in April 2004 on the 9-mile-long Reversible Express Lanes project. One of them sank 11 ft and the others a few inches, says Sue Chrzan, Authority spokeswoman. The mediated agreement was reached without determining a cause of the collapse. FIGG Engineering Group, Tallahassee, Fla., designed the box-girder structure, and the Authority will receive $750,000 previously escrowed for claims resolved with FIGG. PCL Civil Constructors Inc., Tampa, had a separate general construction contract with the Authority, but “we don’t believe that we have any responsibility for that [collapse] issue,” says Bruce Trott, PCL district manager. The collapse cost the Authority $90 million and delayed the project a year, says Chrzan. After the collapse, the Authority hired HNTB as an engineering consultant, she says. The $386.8-million Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway opened in 2006.