Stepped up contract activity for Florida Department of Transportation and other Gulf Coast agencies prompted Standard Concrete Products to expand storage and upgrade product handling and barge loading capabilities at its Port of Tampa plant. Since mid-2005, the company has added three radio remote control-equipped, 100-ton Travelift gantry cranes to the operation. The ISL 100 cranes are the largest such units with remote control delivered to a North American concrete plant, according to manufacturer Shuttlelift.

Much of the current work at the plant is tied to a contract to replace an Interstate 10, twin structure crossing over Escambia Bay in northern Florida. Scheduled for a December 2006 completion, the job entails replacement of a bridge heavily damaged by Hurricane Ivan in summer 2004. Standard Concrete is supplying 600 36-in. square piles; 493 bulb tee girders in lengths of 119 ft. to 136 ft.; and 43 pier base components. The company is splitting the precast supply contract evenly with Gulf Coast Pre-Stress in Pass Christian, Miss., which despite suffering heavy storm surge damage was able to resume limited production within a month of Hurricane Katrina.

In addition to I-10 Escambia Bay, Standard Concrete and GCP are likely bidders on two fast-track, Mississippi Department of Transportation jobs with large precast supply contracts tied to Hurricane Katrina rebuilding: the Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge and St. Louis Bay Bridge, both on U.S. 90. MDOT awarded a $267 million design-build contract for the latter structure to a joint venture, Granite Archer Western, in January. The Department had advertised for Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge bids as well, but a change in height — from 85 ft. to 95 ft. — caused officials to re-advertise with a June contract award target. Granite Archer Western has not announced the St. Louis Bay design, as it might factor into the joint venture's proposal for the Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge.