Bids submitted for downtown street project

The low bid for reconstruction of Third Street and the 200 block of Central Avenue recently came in close to the engineer's estimate. The two segments of the overall downtown infrastructure improvement project were bid together.

Sandry Construction and two other Kalispell-based companies submitted bids on July 31. Sandry's bid of $1.253 million was $29,000 above the estimate by engineering consultants Robert Peccia and Associates. Knife River submitted the highest bid, which was $747,000 above the engineer's estimate.

Construction on Third Street from Baker to Spokane is slated to begin Sept. 8 and be completed no later than Nov. 20 to avoid contract penalties. Work will swing around the corner a short distance south on Central Avenue. The idea is to reduce the impact on corner businesses.

Central Avenue will also ramp up to the height of the curb over about a 25-foot distance to bulbouts on both sides of the intersection. This will create a raised pedestrian-crossing at the Third Street intersection.

Construction on the 200 block of Central Avenue is slated to begin by April 1 next year and be completed no later than June 20 to avoid contract penalties.

Opposition to the raised pedestrian-crossing and bulbouts, along with the wider sidewalks that make up the streetscaping element of the overall downtown project, has grown over the summer.

Public works director John Wilson said the council will see Sandry's low bid at its Aug. 17 meeting, but "change orders' could be made to address any last-minute modifications to streetscaping plans. Redesigning the project, however, could mean additional engineering costs, he noted.

An informational meeting on the implementation of the Central Avenue infrastructure and streetscaping project will take place in the city council chambers on Aug. 18 at 7 p.m. The original purpose of the meeting was to help downtown businesses prepare for several years of road construction, but discussion on streetscaping issues will likely be significant.

In the meantime, the city is taking measure of potential impacts to traffic on Central Avenue. T-Bend Construction installed a 'soft" asphalt curb on both sides of Central Avenue from First to Third streets to simulate an 18-inch wider sidewalk. The cost was about $5,000.

The temporary curb was painted white by city crews for safety reasons for about $100 more. The city filled the space between the curb and the sidewalk with about 28 cubic yards of soft "flowable fill" concrete on Aug. 9. The cost was about $2,500.