15th Street (Ruxer) bridge project delayed; wages set

Delays from higher than expected bids have held up the 15th Street Bridge project that was supposed to be completed this summer.

The project is expected to begin this fall after the project is awarded.

Initially, the lowest bid for the project came in $80,000.00 over the engineer’s estimate. This was due to the bridge decking being more degraded than was anticipated and this has pushed up the demolition costs.

This pushed the cost of the project over the state mandated threshold of $350,000 that requires a wage determination hearing to be held before any bids could be sought.

The county held the hearing Thursday morning.

Union representative Kenny Overton was in attendance along with representatives, Jerry Apple, Mike Witte and Stan Jochem.

No one appeared for the Associated Builders and Contractors and no wages were submitted, so the only wages considered were the union wages.

Overton made a motion to accept the union wages as presented and the motion was seconded. The vote to use the wages was unanimous.

Now, those wages will be written into the new bid package that will go out once the advertising has been done on the 15th Street Bridge project.

The project plans include renovating the bridge by removing the decking and constructing new edges and side guards.

The lowest of the initial bids was over $350,000.00.

Dubois County Highway Superintendent Steve Berg said that once the county receives quotes and chooses a bidder, the project will begin and the road will be shut down for 90 days, weather permitting to complete the work. No start date has been chosen as of yet.