I-275 Sunshine Skyway Rest Areas Design-Build Project

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CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2024

The I-275 Sunshine Skyway Rest Areas are located at the northbound and southbound approach to the signature Sunshine Skyway bridge in St. Petersburg, Florida. The project included challenges, such as permitting, logistics and crafting a resilient solution in an ocean front area that is visited by thousands of tourists annually. The FDOT, Owner’s rep and design-build team will outline the project challenges and discuss how they worked collaboratively to address them and build the most scenic rest areas on the east coast. This project was awarded the DBIA Florida Region Project of the Year in 2021. The project is located on two separate sites. The two rest areas fall within two different FDOT Districts, but FDOT District 1 served as the lead agency for the project. The site conditions where challenging considering the buildings were located in a FEMA velocity flood zone and had to be elevated to raise the building floor elevations above the FEMA Flood plain. The FDOT was able to capitalize on the best ideas from the four DB Teams competing for the project. As a result, the DNCC/RS&H team was able to incorporate 9 ATC’s into the project which saved both time and construction costs.

Objectives

1. How sustainable solutions were applied that reduced excavation and improved Life-cycle costs. As well as how the team developed the placement of the buildings in the corner of both rest area sites served to improve mobility of cars and pedestrians and optimize the number of parking spaces, exceeding contract requirements.

2. The DNCC/RS&H team along with their marine engineering subconsultant, Mott MacDonald, will discuss how an alternative approach to sea wall repair versus replacement made more sense and provided improved life cycle benefits to FDOT.

3. The team will discuss how aesthetics were a factor in the design and display how the result was a completed rest area that is unlike any other along the eastern coast. The vistas are spectacular, and tourists get a beautiful view of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

4. The team also worked with FDOT to develop a method to regenerate the sea grass areas adjacent to the two sites and prepared a study for FDOT to implement as a separate mitigation project.

Michael DeMeo

Architect

RS&H

Michael DeMeo serves as an Architect for RS&H’s Transportation-Infrastructure Practice. He is responsible for leading architectural design efforts, including schematic design, architectural graphics and renderings, construction documentation, project coordination and construction administration. Michael has 17 years of architectural experience, which includes transit, tolling, warehouse/industrial, multimodal, and aviation projects.

Lisa Propps

Project Administrator

CONSOR Engineers, LLC

Lisa Propps is a CEI Project Administrator for clients for over 22 years. Lisa worked on several design-build projects: Smithsonian Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport, Chantilly VA AND I-75 Freeway Management System; SR 54 Widening; and Skyway Rest Areas Replacement for Florida Department of Transportation. She currently works on the Selmon Expressway Slip Ramp project for Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority and FDOT River Road Widening, US 41 to I-75 in Venice FL.

Leigh Lilla, P.E.

Project Manager

David Nelson Construction, Inc.

Leigh Lilla is a senior project manager for David Nelson Construction Co. and has been with the company for 13 years. She is currently involved with various projects for FDOT, Hillsborough County and the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA). She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Florida State University. She is a certified general contractor, a professional engineer, and a LEED accredited professional.

Walter Breuggeman

Senior Project Manager

Florida Department of Transportation

Walter Breuggeman has over 22 years experience working in the Civil Engineering field. He worked for 14 years managing and designing land development projects. Walter came to FDOT D1 in 2014, and worked primarily in the Project Management department, managing a wide array of projects. He recently became the D1 Traffic Services Program Engineer, overseeing the Traffic Studies, Access Management, and Signing and Pavement Marking Teams.

Katherine Brittian

Vice President, Tampa Highway Leader

RS&H

Katherine Brittian, P.E., serves as the Tampa Highway Group Leader for RS&H’s Transportation-Infrastructure Practice. During her 23-year career working for RS&H, she has designed and managed projects ranging from rest area and weigh-in-motion stations to major interstate capacity improvement projects involving complex multi-disciplined teams of professional engineers. Katherine received her Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida.