Idaho firm awarded Sun Road contract
Hungry Horse News
An Idaho Falls company has been awarded a massive contract to reconstruct the Going-to-the-Sun Highway.
HK Contractors was awarded the contract last month. The first phase of the work, reconstructing the road from the West Side Tunnel to Haystack Creek is $12.21 million, with an additional $545,000 for traffic control.
That phase, according to the Western Lands Highway Division Web site, runs from this summer through next fall.
The contract was not without its controversy. Montana firms and the Montana Contractors Association claimed the Federal Highway Administration, which administers highway repairs and contracts inside the Park, crafted the contract language in such a way as to exclude them from bidding on the overall job.
Montana contractors, to date, have done much of the Sun Highway reconstruction over the past 10 years. The ailing road, pinned to the side of the mountains, has been battered by floods, avalanches and age and is almost always under repair at one site or another.
Montana firms will get sub-contracting work. That work is currently being bid out, a Federal Highway Administration spokesman in Washington, D.C. said.
The contract also includes four two-year option periods. It's estimated to be worth about $140 million, all told.
Funding for the initial reconstruction comes from a $50 million earmark inserted into a federal highways funding bill by Montana Sen. Max Baucus.
Funds for the road also come from the Park Service road budget.
The rehabilitation work will likely start later this month and could cause some traffic delays.
The Park has already set a schedule for expected delays as follows:
€ Daytime Schedule (Mon-Fri) - 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. - Short work zone delays totaling 30 minutes maximum.
€ Night-time Schedule (Sun-Thur) - 10 p.m. to 6 am - Up to four hour delays.
€ Weekend Schedule (Fri-Sun) - 6 a.m. Friday to 10 p.m. Sunday - Short work zone delays totaling 30 minutes maximum.
After Sept. 17, the rehabbed section of highway could be closed to vehicles entirely and possibly even hikers. Logan Pass would remain open, however, weather provided.