Consortium designing Panama Canal crossing

The contract to design the third bridge spanning the Panama Canal will be carried out by 1493 Louis Berger Group and 2661 China Communications Construction. The two firms have formed a consortium to handle the design work and the deal is worth US$4.66 million. Six bids were submitted for the bridge design contract and with this having been awarded, the design phase will take 11 months to complete. The client requires a bridge that will carry four lanes of traffic, with two lanes in either direction and this new structure will cost $280 million to build. The tender process for the construction contract is now expected to commence in mid 2012.