It’s not often that the words “innovative” and “first in the nation” appear in the same sentence as Pennsylvania. But the state Department of Transportation is working on a project that is being described in just those glowing terms.

The project is PennDOT’s Rapid Bridge Replacement Program, and it has several positive elements, including built-in incentives for contractors that could minimize costly repairs in the future.

Following the passage in 2012 of a public-private partnership law, PennDOT started looking at a large group of bridges with design and size similarities being bid out for replacement as one big contract. The initial plan called for replacing 300 of the state’s 4,200 state-owned bridges rated as structurally deficient. PennDOT’s thinking is that a single contractor managing the replacement of a large quantity of smaller, simpler bridges will save money through efficiencies and economies of scale. Most of the bridges on the list are less than 60 feet long.

The final, and most intriguing, aspect of the partnership bridge project calls for the contractor to not only build the bridges, but to maintain them for 25 years. While this sounds like a prime example of the devil being in the details, the expectation is that the winning contractor will use top-quality construction and design to help reduce its own maintenance and repair costs in the future.

The new program is expected not only to shorten the time required to replace the targeted bridges, but also to save money.

The initial target of 300 bridges was expanded after the passage of the state’s new trasportation-funding bill earlier this year, and now the Rapid Bridge Replacement Program includes 558 bridges.

Four teams of private businesses are competing for the bridge replacement contract, which is expected to be awarded by the end of October. PennDOT officials expect the work to begin next summer and terms of the contract require bridge work to be finished in about three years. The accelerated schedule, according to PennDOT, is made possible by targeting bridges that are smaller and similar in design, which should allow the contractor to avoid treating each bridge replacement project as a unique job with its own design and construction peculiarities.

The bulk design and replacement approach is expected to save enough money to fund dozens of additional bridge projects.

Initial bids can be expected to to run higher than conventional bids because of the contractor’s added responsibility for long-term maintenance; on the other hand, the contractor will be less tempted to use lower-grade materials and techniques knowing that the contract requires the bridge remain structurally sound for more than two decades, at contractor expense.

The program makes sense and is worth monitoring. It will encourage construction of solid bridges as well as reasonable prices for their construction.

This PennDOT program should be a winnner.