Completed in December of 2018, The Southern Ohio Veterans Memorial Highway was the largest construction contract that the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) had ever procured and the first Public-Private-Partnership (P3) in Ohio. With a construction and design value in excess of $430 million, the project’s 20 million cy of excavation ranked it as the largest earthwork project in ODOT history. The project consists of over 16-miles of new four lane divided highway which provides a link from U.S. 23 near Lucasville to U.S. 52 at Wheelersburg.
The bypass allows for safe and efficient travel around the city of Portsmouth while improving regional mobility and playing an important role in future economic development. Beaver completed all mass excavation, major drainage, and bridge construction activities over the 3½ year project. Drainage elements included over 80 major stream-carrying culverts along with over 66,000 lf of surface drainage pipe and associated drainage structures. Construction of the 21 bridges required over 330,000 sf of mechanically-stabilized earth (MSE) walls, 16 structures with precast concrete beams and five structures with steel plate girders. Construction of the project’s five major interchanges included connections at U.S. 23 and U.S. 52 in Scioto County.