The Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) will hold a business opportunity briefing April 18 for small, minority and women-owned businesses seeking opportunities to bid on contracts for four major highway construction projects valued at more than $4 billion.

The briefing will be held from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., at the Bob Duncan Center, 2800 S. Center St., in Arlington.  The projects are scheduled to be under construction in the Dallas and Houston areas under CDAs - also known as public-private partnerships (P3s) - by 2013, and TxDOT wants to make sure small, minority and women-owned contractor firms are aware of the business opportunities these projects present.

In 2011, TxDOT received authority from the Texas Legislature to develop 11 projects – including the four listed below – through CDAs.   The projects, their estimated design and construction costs and estimated start dates are:

The Dallas Horseshoe (I-35E/I-30, Dallas County), $818 million – early 2013

Interstate 35E (LBJ Freeway to US 380, Dallas and Denton Counties), approximately $2 billion to  $4.8 billion – 2013

State Highway 183 (I-35E to SH 161, Dallas County), $1.5 billion – 2013

Grand Parkway (US 59 North to US 59 South, Harris and Montgomery Counties), $1.4 billion – early 2013

Representatives of North Texas’ three CDA projects currently under construction – DFW Connector, LBJ Express and North Tarrant Express – are scheduled to make brief presentations and will be available to answer questions at the briefing.

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