Still Saving Lives in Florida with Design-Build 

Push Button Contract Model

More than a decade after it was first used, Florida 

Department of Transportation’s (FDOT) award-winning 

Design-Build Push Button (DBPB) contract method is 

still delivering life-saving safety projects.1

 In FDOT’s 

District 7 (D7), staff worked both with their internal 

leadership and the FHWA Florida Division to develop 

its “push button” framework as a means of reducing 

the cost and time it took to complete certain low-cost 

safety improvements when using traditional contracting 

methods. This framework, which is now used statewide, 

uses Federal Highway Safety Improvement Program 

(HSIP) funds to finance specific low-cost safety 

improvements on local roads, including high-visibility 

crosswalks, mid-block crossings, and rectangular rapidflashing beacons, among others.

When D7 identifies a need for a safety improvement, 

the team first conducts a rigorous feasibility study to 

determine a project’s suitability for inclusion in the 

DBPB contract. The team then coordinates closely to 

generate the scope, design, and a cost estimate for the 

project using contract pay items and corresponding 

unit prices defined in the DBPB contract. These data, 

along with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 

documentation, generally in the form of a categorical 

1 In 2010, FDOT received the John W. Barr Transportation Achievement Award from the ITE Florida section. 

2 Telephone interview with Peter Hsu, FDOT District Safety Programs Engineer, 9/23/2022.

exclusion certification, are submitted to FHWA’s Florida 

Division Office for approval. Should the FHWA Division 

Office approve and fund the project, D7 issues a notice 

to proceed. Per the DBPB contract requirements, each 

project must be completed within 12 months.

Significant Safety Improvements

Overall, this contracting method has reduced the 

time to install safety projects from 3–5 years to 4–12 

months. For 11 projects completed under the first 

DBPB contract in 2010, FDOT estimates 138 crashes 

have been prevented annually, representing an 

economic savings of $18 million per year.2

 A 2019 

evaluation of the DBPB contracts included a case study 

evaluation of seven projects implemented in 2016. 

Design-Build Contracting

Across the Nation, State agencies are regularly challenged to find innovative mechanisms to install life-saving 

safety improvements faster, preventing crashes now instead of in 3 or 5 years, which is often the anticipated 

timeline when agencies use traditional contracting methods on such projects. Florida and Missouri are examples 

of States that are putting a unique twist on the Design-Build (DB) contracting method to overcome this challenge. 

HIGHWAY SAFETY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM – 

NOTEWORTHY PRACTICES

Innovative approaches to delivering Federal-aid 

road safety projects.

What is Design-Build Push Button?

In a traditional Design-Build contract, there is 

one project per contract, with the contractor 

coordinating both design and construction activities. 

Florida’s DBPB approach bundles multiple projects—

issued via work order on an as-needed basis—under 

one contract vehicle, with each project having a 

$2 million ceiling. Once the overall contract has been 

awarded, FDOT then selects the projects to be let on a 

rolling basis.

Source: Getty Images
HIGHWAY SAFETY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM – NOTEWORTHY PRACTICES | DESIGN BUILD CONTRACTING

The evaluation determined that crashes decreased 

between 28 and 100 percent at these locations.3

While the safety improvements and time savings in 

installing projects under a DBPB contract are significant, 

the DBPB contracting approach entails significant 

labor on the part of agency staff, FDOT District Safety 

Programs Engineer Peter Hsu noted. “You have to have a 

passion for safety, the support of agency leadership and 

FHWA, and enough staff to develop project packages 

and manage [the contract]. It takes a lot of manpower. 

But we do it because safety cannot wait.”

Missouri’s Data-Driven Approach to 

Design-Build Project Bundling Targets 

Fatal and Injury Crash Reduction

Missouri DOT (MoDOT) took a distinctive approach to 

creating a design-build contract vehicle that bundled safety 

projects: the agency required contractors to use a datadriven approach based on Highway Safety Manual (HSM) 

calculations to identify the solutions that would prevent the 

most fatal and injury crashes at a set of 34 locations. 

For a St. Louis District Safety Design-Build project, the 

agency began planning for the contract by reviewing 

historical crash data, focusing on the number and types 

of crashes in two counties. As part of the letting, MoDOT 

issued a list of 34 locations with known fatal and injury 

crashes problems. Bidders were given a dollar value 

and instructed to develop an approach that resulted 

in the greatest reduction in fatal and injury crashes for 

that amount or less. The team whose solution offered 

the greatest safety improvement would score highest 

for that evaluation factor. The bids were rated based 

on the proposed technical solutions and qualifications 

of the bidding teams. In addition to crash reductions, 

which accounted for 60 percent of the evaluation, the 

solution’s longevity, or how long the solution would last 

without needing replacement, was also a factor. The 

3 FDOT. n.d. Design Build Push Button 3 Contract Evaluation. Available at http://tampabaytrafficsafety.com/2021/07/19/design-buildpushbutton-contract/, accessed March 8, 2023.

4 MoDOT. n.d. “St. Louis District Safety Design-Build Project Fact Sheet.” Available at, https://www.modot.org/sites/default/files/

documents/FactSheet_000.pdf, accessed March 8, 2023.

final component for evaluation was schedule. In the 

end, the winning contractor submitted a schedule that 

would have all projects completed 12 months earlier 

than MoDOT projected. 

Advice and Lessons Learned4

One lesson from using a data-driven approach is that 

the evaluation process was complex. “There were 

thousands of spreadsheets,” stated MoDOT Design-Build 

Coordinator Dave Simmons, who noted that MoDOT 

is currently working out its approach to a follow-on 

design-build contract for projects focused on safety 

improvements in St. Louis 

County. “We’re looking 

for a way to get the data 

that is more user friendly 

to the contractor and the 

MoDOT evaluation team.” 

When asked what advice 

the MoDOT design-build 

team would give other States interested in trying this 

approach, the MoDOT design-build team said that the 

number one factor is the need for supportive leadership 

within the State DOT and the FHWA Division Office. Other 

keys to success include good relationships with industry 

consulting partners and being open to innovative 

solutions. “We have to understand that other agencies are 

doing good things with safety, and we have to look for 

ways to get better, to use different tools,” Simmons said. 

“Ultimately, at the end of the day, we just want to save 

lives. Our goal is to put these HSIP dollars to use quickly 

and efficiently and focus on saving lives.” 

Additional Resources:

Florida Design-Build Push Button Contract: 

http://tampabaytrafficsafety.com/2021/07/19/design-buildpushbutton-contract/ 

The St. Louis District Safety Design Build project: 

https://www.modot.org/st-louis-safety-design-build-project

For more information on this practice, please contact 

your State’s FHWA Division Office.

The $24 million St. Louis District 

Safety Design-Build project 

installed 20 different safety 

improvements at 31 locations in 

two counties, saving more than 

70 people from death or serious 

injury over a 10-year period.4

https://highways.dot.gov/safety

April 2023  FHWA-SA-23-012

“The faster we can get these projects implemented, 

the faster lives can be saved.” 

—Dave Simmons, Missouri DOT Design-Build Coordinator