Southern Ohio Veteran’s Memorial Highway
Ohio Dept. of Transportation’s first Public-Private Partnership (P3) project and the state’s single, largest earthwork to date.
- Date: June 2016 – December 2018
- Owner: ODOT
- Developer: Portsmouth Gateway Group (ACS Infrastructure, InfraRed Capital, Star America Capital)
- Lead Contractor: Portsmouth JV
- (Dragados USA, Beaver Excavating, John R. Jurgensen)
- Lead Designer: MS Consultants
- Independent Quality Firm: HDR
- Project Type: Heavy Highway
About this Project
After several years and nearly $500 million dollars, the Southern Ohio Veterans Memorial Highway opened on December 14th, 2018. As a 16-mile four-lane highway, it cut the traveling time between Sciotoville and Lucasville by nearly 20 minutes.
Also known as Ohio-823, the bypass connects U.S. 52 and U.S. 23 through Portsmouth and includes infrastructure feats such as:
- Five interchanges
- Two partial interchanges
- Better access to Scioto County airport
- 72 lane miles
What is a P3?
A P3 project, also known as a PPP, stands for a “Public-Private Partnership. It is a contractual arrangement that is formed between public and private-sector partners. Government agencies are often tasked with renovating, constructing, or maintaining a facility that provides a public service.
In a P3, the private sector agrees with a government office, usually through a contract, to assist. In exchange, the private partner can retain partial ownership and/or share the revenue by investing in that project.
For more information about Portsmouth and P3s, visit Asphalt Contractor’s June/July 2019 front-page feature here.