Community Asphalt Corp. of Hialeah, Fla., has been engaged by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) for a project on Interstate 95 from south of SR-514 to south of SR-519 in Brevard County.

The $196.3 million contract will be completed by Community Asphalt Corp. two years ahead of FDOT’s predicted schedule. FDOT will repay the firm over a five year period.

“We look forward to applying the ample experience Community Asphalt Corp. has acquired to date in the area where the project is to take place and handle all the involved processes,” said Lauro Bravar, president of OHL USA Inc., which owns Community Asphalt.

The design-build project involves the financing, improvement and expansion of a section of existing four-lane I-95 to a six-lane highway and the construction of a new interchange at the Pineda Causeway Extension.

Project work includes new pavement, drainage system improvements, bridge widening, bridge replacements, noise and retainer wall construction, ITS modifications, median barriers, signing and pavement markings, milling and resurfacing, and lighting.  Roadway work encompasses new asphalt pavement and milling and resurfacing of the existing pavement as well as acceleration and deceleration lanes that meet FDOT requirements at all ramps. Drainage work will comply with FDOT permit requirements for water quality and quantity.

The award of this contract to Community Asphalt Corp. follows the recent approval of an unsolicited proposal by FDOT to revamp a dangerous section of U.S. 1. It marks the first unsolicited proposal awarded by a U.S. Department of Transportation through this innovative financing model.