PR approves downtown project bid

PRIEST RIVER — The city is a step closer to the start of its downtown revitalization project after council members approved a construction contract with Earthworks Northwest last week.

“We had two bidders, and they were pretty close to our engineer’s estimate,” said Matt Gillis with Welch Comer Engineers.

After a lengthy discussion on the different options within the bid during the April 15 meeting, council members approved a total bid amount of $1,157,462 with Earthworks.

Of the different bid options discussed, the base bid covers High Street from just east of Wisconsin to Cedar, and Main Street from just south of Highway 2 – there is a small area at the north end of Main not included in the base bid – to just south of the dentist’s office. Earthworks put in a base bid $1,115,000.

To give the city flexibility in funding, however, the engineers incorporated two alternates as well that could be added, depending on the bid climate.

One is the small section at the north end of Main Street that includes a waterline replacement. The other alternative would be to add the south section of Main into the project, also with waterline replacement. Each add alternate was then split into two, separating the waterline replacement from the roadwork.

Earthworks bid the first add alternate at $97,687 for the roadway, and $13,251 for the waterline at the north end of Main. They bid the second add alternate at $243,835 for the roadway, and $29,211 for the waterline at the south end of Main. If council members had approved all of the add alternates with the base bid, it would have exceeded the city’s available funding.

The city was awarded a block grant in 2017 from the Department of Commerce for $500,000, and this year was awarded $1 million through the Local Strategic Initiatives program, administered by the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council.

The Priest River Urban Renewal Agency is contributing $230,220 for the project, and the city received a Local Highway Rural Investment Program grant of $87,200. The city funded $148,037, most of which has been paid out already in engineering and design fees.

The total project funding is $1,965,457, though after engineering, design and construction phase services, available construction funding is $1,622,057. Of that, $198,000 will go to Frontier for underground relocation of the utility lines on High Street, as well as $40,000 for grant administration, which left the city with approximately $1,38 million to award the bid.

To leave some contingency for unforeseen construction costs, council members ultimately decided to have the waterline replaced in both add alternate sections, adding $42,462 to the base bid. The roadway will be patched in those sections rather than replaced after the waterline improvements are complete.

With the total approved bid of $1,157,462 with Earthworks, the city is left with $226,595 in contingency.

“There will be changes,” Gillis said during the discussion about contingency. “There is all kinds of unknowns that we will run into as we peel stuff away — who knows what we will find underneath some of these sidewalks and roadways.”

The project will begin after July 4, and run through August and September. With one block closed down at a time, access to businesses will be maintained. The utility lines on High Street will not go underground until August, after the Timber Days celebration, to accommodate the parade, car show and other activities.

Some of the other improvements include colorful foliage, updated lighting and expansion of the sidewalks.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.