Washington Group-Led Joint Venture Awarded $564 Million Contract By U. S. Army Corps of Engineers for Construction of Ohio River Dam.

Business Editors

BOISE, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 29, 2004

Washington Group International, Inc. (Nasdaq:WGII) announced today that a company-led joint venture has been awarded a $564 million contract from the United States Army Corps of Engineers for construction of a 2,700-foot-long concrete dam across the lower Ohio River.

The cost-reimbursable-plus-award-fee contract to build the Olmsted Dam near Olmsted, Illinois, was awarded to a joint venture of Washington Group (55 percent) and Alberici Constructors Inc. (45 percent).

The Olmsted Dam is part of an overall project by the Corps of Engineers to replace the deteriorating Locks and Dam 52/53 on the nation's busiest stretch of commercial navigation in the inland waterways. More than 95 million tons of commodities such as coal, petroleum, ore, chemicals, and grain pass through the facilities each year.

"We are delighted to once again have an important role in helping the Corps of Engineers meet the demands of upgrading the country's aging but vital navigation systems," said Stephen G. Hanks, President and Chief Executive Officer of Washington Group. "We have a long history of achievement with the Corps in new construction, renovation and, more recently, environmental remediation and we have the right team in place to successfully complete this new and challenging project."

In a news release, the Corps of Engineers noted that the criteria used to evaluate the contractors' proposals included experience, management, technical approach, past performance and quality, safety, subcontracting, and cost.

The dam will be constructed by an "in-the-wet" method where work is done underwater by pumping concrete into precast shells built in an on-land yard. The dam will be comprised of five tainter gates and a navigable pass with boat operated wicket gates. A fixed weir will tie the dam into the Kentucky bank. The cost of the project will be shared equally between the federal government and the Inland Waterways Trust Fund. Construction will begin this spring and is scheduled for completion in 2012.

Washington Group recently completed a renovation project on the McAlpine Locks and Dam on the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky, for the Corps of Engineers. The company also is under contract to the Corps of Engineers on several reconstruction projects in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Another recently completed Washington Group project, the San Roque Hydroelectric Project in the Philippines that included a 640-foot-high rock-and earth-fill dam, was named one of three 2003 Projects of the Year by Power Engineering Magazine.

Washington Group International, Inc. provides the talent, innovation, and proven performance to deliver integrated engineering, construction, and management solutions for businesses and governments worldwide. With approximately 27,000 employees at work in over 40 states and more than 30 countries, the company provides professional, scientific, management, and development services in more than two dozen major markets.

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Included among those markets are: Power generation, transmission and distribution, and clean air solutions; environmental remediation; heavy civil construction; mining; nuclear services; defense, homeland security, and global threat reduction; industrial, gas, chemical, and pharmaceutical processing; manufacturing; facilities operations and management; transportation; and water resources.

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the private securities litigation reform act of 1995, which are identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as may, will, could, should, expect, anticipate, intend, plan, estimate, or continue or the negative thereof or other variations thereof. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily based on various assumptions and estimates and are inherently subject to various risks and uncertainties, including risks and uncertainties relating to the possible invalidity of the underlying assumptions and estimates and possible changes or developments in social, economic, business, industry, market, legal, and regulatory circumstances and conditions and actions taken or omitted to be taken by third parties, including the corporation's customers, suppliers, business partners, and competitors and legislative, regulatory, judicial, and other governmental authorities and officials.