Bridging the Bay: Using Collaborative Communication for Project Success

This paper discusses how a water main relocation project became a critical success factor for a major regional transportation program. The City of Tampa (City) approached Freese and Nichols, Inc. (FNI) to provide a relocation design for the City's water mains for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Tampa Bay (TB) Next Program Westshore Boulevard Interchange project. During design, FDOT converted from a design-bid-build delivery method to a phased progressive design-build delivery method. With the change to a progressive design-build delivery method, FNI's role transitioned to the City's Owner's Advisor to provide consistency for the City of Tampa's Water Department throughout the project. The purpose of this paper is to highlight some of the key challenges and how the team worked collaboratively to resolve the issue.