RION-ANTIRION BRIDGE NAMED 2005 OCEA/OPAL
OUTSTANDING CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER

On April 13th, 2005, at the Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) gala, the Rion-Antirion Bridge was named the Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement (OCEA) by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). This is the first time since 1960 that the award has gone to a project outside of the United States.

The award recognizes the project’s significant contribution to the civil engineering profession and its local community. The longest cable-stayed bridge in the world was chosen from a field of five finalists. Langan played a significant role on a team of international design and consulting engineering experts that served on the project.

The Rion-Antirion Bridge is a 1 billion USD multi-span cable stayed bridge spanning the Gulf of Corinth in Greece. It was built as a concession project and it consists of a 3.2-km-long deck constructed in an area of extreme environmental conditions, deep sea waters (65 m+), marginal soils and high seismicity. Construction involves dry docks, wet docks, deep dredging, underwater high-voltage cable relocation, soil improvement, tension leg barges and off-shore techniques for the float-out and final positioning of the 90-meter diameter pylon bases.

The Athens-based joint venture Gefyra S.A., a consortium of the VINCI Group of France and five Greek contractors, was awarded the contract to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the bridge. New York-based Langan Engineering and Environmental Services and Parsons Transportation Group acted as Technical Advisors to the lenders.

As a vital component of the Trans European Transportation Network, the bridge was conceived as a concession project, i.e. finance, design, build, operate and maintain. Financing was achieved through European Community funding, bank financing (European Investment Bank and Commercial Banks) and Concessionaire’s equity. The unique technical and construction aspects of the project added to the complexity of the financial negotiations.

Since 1996, Langan worked closely with the Concessionaire, the Lead Arrangers (Bank of America & Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi) and the Legal Advisor (Linklaters) to achieve Financial Closing in December 1997. During the Pre-Financial Closing period, Langan/Parsons’ key role was to evaluate the conceptual design and determine that the project could be done within the contract schedule and cost. Following Financial Closing, Langan/Parsons provided technical support throughout the Bank Syndication process.

In early 1998, Langan/Parsons started as Technical Advisor to the Intercreditor Agent (Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi), responsible for oversight of all project issues and for reporting and approval of loan drawdowns through completion of the project in August 2004. In its role as Technical Advisor, Langan/Parsons was involved with all aspects of the project: design, environmental, natural resources, geotechnical, stakeholder relationships (concessionaire, contractor, designer, government, lenders, NGOs, etc), scheduling, construction methods and cost evaluations.

The Rion-Antirion Bridge project also won the 2005 ACEC National Grand Award, and the ACEC New York Diamond Award .

Concessionaire: Gefyra SA (VINCI Group, Paris, France & Greek Contractors: AKTOR, J&O, Athena, Proodeftiki, Pantechniki) Contractor: Gefyra JV (VINCI Group & Greek Contractors) Architecture: B. Mikaelian, Paris, France Design: Vinci Construction, Grands Projets, Paris, France Ingerop, Paris France Domi, Athens, Greece Technical Advisors (To the Lenders): Langan Engineering & Environmental Services, P.C., New York, USA Parsons Transportation Group, New York, USA Design Checker: Buckland & Taylor, Vancouver, Canada Specialists (To the Design Checker): Dr. R.B. Peck, Albuquerque, USA – Geotechnical Prof. R. Dobry, Troy, USA – Geodynamics Prof. N. Priestley, San Diego, USA – Seismic Prof. F. Seible, San Diego, USA – Seismic Prof. M. Calvi, Pavie, Italy – Seismic Supervision Engineer: Faber Maunsell, London, Great Britain

“Throughout the project’s duration, the Technical Advisor Team, and Mr. Leventis, was instrumental to both the financial institutions and the Concessionaire in identifying high risk design and construction issues and recommending mitigating or alternative approaches. As a result of their invaluable contributions on this world-class project, I would highly recommend Langan and Mr. Leventis for any major project.” J.P. Teyssandier, Managing Director and Chairman of the Board Gefyra S.A.

For additional information, please contact:
George Leventis, P.E., President
Langan International
212-479-5402
gleventis@langan.com