Tutor Perini subsidiary Lunda Construction has won a $62 million interstate bridge repair contract to shore up the 43-year-old I-494 crossing over the Minnesota River in Bloomington, Minnesota, according to a news release.
The Minnesota DOT tapped Lunda for pavement repair on I-494; reconstruction of a regional trail; replacement of bridge joints; repair of the bridge deck, beam ends and railings; reconstruction of bearings; replacement of highway lighting; and repair and replacement of drainage systems.
Black River Falls, Wisconsin-based Lunda was founded in 1938. It experienced significant growth starting in 1956 with the launch of the Interstate Highway Program. Today, it specializes in bridge, railroad and industrial projects.
The firm was acquired in 2011 by Los Angeles-based Tutor Perini, one of the 20 largest contractors in the country. In 2020, the City of Minneapolis picked the firm for its $50 million 10th Avenue Historic Bridge rehabilitation project.
Tutor Perini has experienced several challenges recently.
Owners scrapped several projects in the past year that Tutor Perini had won, including the AirTrain at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, which had ballooned more than five times its initial price tag to $2.4 billion, and the Capital Beltway widening project in the Washington, D.C., area, which had long been the subject of environmental lawsuits.
In addition, a recent Construction Dive Investigation revealed the firm had the most OSHA safety violations of any large contractor in the past decade.
The I-494 bridge project is slated to begin immediately, with substantial completion scheduled for summer of 2026, Tutor Perini said.