Houston Chronicle by Jasper Scherer and Dug Begley Aug. 11, 2020
Harris County commissioners decided Tuesday to fire the engineering firm for the new Houston Ship Channel Bridge but held off on hiring a replacement, leaving the status of the county’s costliest ever infrastructure project partially in limbo after it has already been beset by a monthslong delay.
The move follows a decision last month by the Federal Highway Administration to suspend and debar FIGG Bridge Group, whose Dallas office designed the $1 billion bridge. The company, based in Florida, came under scrutiny when its Tallahassee office designed a pedestrian bridge that collapsed in February 2018 at Florida International University, killing six. The firm is now ineligible for work on federally funded projects.
In January, soon after new leadership came on to Commissioners Court, the Harris County Toll Road Authority announced plans to pause construction on the bridge after engineers uncovered a possible design flaw in the project, which had been underway for nearly 20 months.
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