KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 16, 2010) — The Florida Department of Transportation, through its newly created Florida Rail Enterprise, has selected HNTB Corporation and Wilbur Smith Associates, in a joint partnership, as its program manager for passenger rail in the state of Florida. The primary assignment for this team will be assisting with implementation of Florida’s high-speed rail program, which recently received a grant award of $1.25 billion for Phase 1: Tampa-Orlando. This was one of the top awards in the Federal Railroad Administration’s competition for $8 billion available in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds through the Vision for High Speed Rail in America program.

The Florida Rail Enterprise is responsible for planning, constructing, maintaining, operating and promoting Florida’s high-speed rail system. The Enterprise, created in December 2009 by the Florida Legislature, also coordinates the development and operation of Florida’s publicly funded passenger rail systems.

The HNTB/WSA team will provide overall program support and oversight for planning, design, public outreach, vehicle and systems integration, operations, construction, project controls and procurement of all contracts on the Florida high-speed rail program.

“It’s exciting to see the return on the investment we made in high-speed rail,” said Peter Gertler, HNTB’s high-speed rail services chair. “I’m confident that our momentum will continue to grow as more funding is released.”

“The Florida DOT’s visionary planning has us in a position where all the stars have aligned to move this first HSR Express system in the country into implementation: strong public investment in the infrastructure, bipartisan political and grass roots support, and a great project with almost all the right of way secured” said Adrian Share, WSA’s high-speed rail program manager. For more information about high-speed rail in Florida, go to www.floridahighspeedrail.org.

Wilbur Smith Associates is an employee-owned professional services consulting firm that specializes in transportation, infrastructure and community development planning, engineering, and economics. Established in 1952, the firm has completed projects in all 50 U.S. states and 120 countries on six continents.  WSA is headquartered in Columbia, S.C, with more than 1,200 employees in 60 offices around the globe. For more information, visit www.WilburSmith.com.

HNTB Corporation is an employee-owned infrastructure firm serving federal, state, municipal, military and private clients. With nearly a century of service, HNTB has the insight to understand the life cycle of infrastructure and the perspective to solve the most complex technical, financial and operational challenges. Professionals nationwide provide award-winning planning, design, program management and construction management services. For more information, visit www.hntb.com.