Fluor and Balfour Beatty Open $677M Oak Hill Parkway
Colorado River Constructors, the Fluor and Balfour Beatty joint venture, delivered the seven-mile U.S. 290 and SH 71 reconstruction. The roadway is open, with finishing work continuing through the end of 2026.
A $677 million highway reconstruction has reached its opening milestone in southwest Austin. Fluor and Balfour Beatty joined TxDOT for a September 24 ceremony marking the opening of Oak Hill Parkway. Colorado River Constructors, the Fluor and Balfour Beatty joint venture, served as the design-build contractor.
The project replaces the former Y-shaped junction with a redesigned roadway system and expands the main lanes from two to three in each direction. Construction began in 2021, bringing five years of major corridor work to a significant transition.
Project at a Glance
- Owner:
- Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
- Design Build Contractor:
- Colorado River Constructors — Fluor + Balfour Beatty joint venture
- Lead designer:
- AECOM
- Project value:
- $677 million
- Corridor:
- Approximately seven miles of U.S. 290 and SH 71
- Status:
- Open to traffic; finishing work continues through late 2026
- Location:
- Southwest Austin
- Construction started:
- 2021
- Main roadway system:
- Now open
Project scope
The design-build scope combines highway capacity, new structures and connections for local traffic, pedestrians and cyclists:
• Approximately seven miles of improvements to U.S. 290 and SH 71 • Main lanes widened from two to three in each direction • New flyovers and overpasses • New frontage roads • Shared-use pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure • Replacement of the former Y-interchange with a single-point urban interchange
The construction behind the new roadway
The scale of the work extends well below and beyond the travel lanes. In a 2025 progress report, Fluor recorded more than four million work hours, over 150,000 linear feet of underground drainage and utilities, and more than 750,000 square feet of bridge decks. Those figures describe an earlier construction snapshot rather than final quantities at opening.
The same report identified almost 200,000 square yards of concrete pavement. At peak activity, approximately 600 craft workers and subcontractor personnel supported delivery. Keeping a major regional route functioning while replacing its structures, drainage and junctions made sequencing central to the job.
Paths, drainage and material reuse
The scheme also includes 14 miles of shared-use paths and approximately 1.5 miles of sidewalks. These connections make the corridor improvements relevant to people walking and cycling as well as drivers. Stormwater detention and water-quality ponds form another part of the infrastructure package.
Fluor described an on-site recycling approach that reused existing roadway material in cement-treated base. Its progress report put reclaimed material at roughly 95% of that base mix, with about 125,000 tons of recycled base produced. Reusing material within the project reduced the need to treat all demolished pavement as waste.
Work remaining after opening
Opening the roadway does not mean every construction activity has ended. Final paving, pavement markings and landscaping are scheduled to continue through the end of 2026. Drivers should continue to watch for work zones as the contractor completes those remaining elements.