Every Wednesday at 1 p.m., the conference room at Banks Construction Co.'s field office is bursting with utility company representatives. Like workers uniting to figure out a $48 million jigsaw puzzle, they plan which pieces of pipe or sewer lines need to be moved to make room for two more traffic lanes on a four-mile stretch of Ashley Phosphate Road.

ALAN HAWES/STAFF A bridge support stands above interstate I-26 at Ashley Phosphate Rd.

Their weekly conversations have gone on for more than a year and have worked so effectively that two overpass medians scheduled to take 45 days to build were done in two weeks.

Working together, highway and utility crews drilled 10 shafts and built 10 columns and two pier caps, one at the Ashley Phosphate Road exit on Interstate 26 and another at the exit for U.S. Highway 52.

While the ease of this work reduces knots in contractors' stomachs and minimizes the time their crews spend on work sites, it affects motorists, too.

Their speedy work allowed all lanes of traffic around the Interstate 26 exits to reopen at the beginning of April, a full month ahead of schedule.

"We worked around the clock," said John Burbage, assistant vice president of operations with Banks Construction. "The only time we stopped was for a lightning storm. We had schedules set for each hour, not by the day or by the week."

What is occurring in Burbage's office is a glimpse into the future. Beginning in July, all state Department of Transportation projects will be handled this way through a teamwork policy called Project Partnering.

First used by the state Department of Transportation in 1994, Project Partnering requires key players -- representatives from DOT, construction companies, utilities and local governments -- to meet at the start of a project, before any utility lines are dug up or any cement is poured.

Officials sign a "partnering charter" contract that guarantees their company or agency will offer full cooperation during the project.

The contract outlines a common completion date and safety goals. It includes a flow chart identifying a hierarchy of bosses and time limits for how quickly decisions need to be made before a supervisor is notified that someone is dragging his feet.

"I would not want to be involved with anymore non-partnering projects," Burbage said. "Never in my life have I seen cooperation like this. And I thank God for it. We're not getting in each other's way. The biggest advantage is working together to keep the utilities ahead of us. That's the way we like it."

He said he expects the entire project to be done on time, easily meeting the July 2005 completion date. Banks Construction was able to use the partnering process because of the project's sizeable cost.

In the past, only projects costing more than $25 million were required to use the partnering process, but the track record of these projects coming in on time and on budget convinced DOT to require such partnering methods in all its projects.

"In our business, time is money," said Danny Shealy, director of construction with DOT. "Every project we have used it for has been completed on time without claims from the contractor. Even with offering incentives to contractors, we save money."

Previously, a contractor had to call utility companies and ask them to move lines or do other work by a certain date. No assistance was generally offered. Using the partnering method, construction companies let utility companies use needed equipment free of charge. In return, utilities will repair their lines if a contractor accidentally damages them.

"The difference between the two is like night and day," said Steve Martin, plant contract supervisor with BellSouth, currently involved in the Project Partnering agreement for the widening of Ashley Phosphate Road.

"Instead of us getting the runaround from each other, it's more a sense of, 'What can we do to make it work?' "

Cooperation saves money because workers are not standing around waiting for instructions or equipment, said Leland Colvin, program manger with DOT.

"No one wants to be the black eye of a project. No one wants to be the group blamed for holding up traffic," Colvin said.

Others agreed. "With any job you have attitudes and egos," said Rick Bryant, project manager for the Limehouse Bridge replacement project with Banks Construction. The bridge, under a Project Partnering contract, is expected to open to traffic early next month, several months before the original deadline.

"This gives you a nice way to deal with people in a quick manner," Bryant said.