Huntingburg awards Fourth Street reconstruction contract to Rivertown

The Huntingburg Board of Public Works and Safety voted unanimously to award the Fourth Street roadway reconstruction contract to Rivertown, which bid $617,716 at its regular meeting last week.

Brandon Durchholz of VS Engineering, the contracted engineering firm for the project, said the city opened three bids on Monday, Nov. 2. Rivertown was the lowest responsive bidder. JBI came in second at $624,898, and Russell Excavating bid about $898,000. The engineer’s estimate was about $689,000, so both lowest bids were under it and about $7,000 apart.

Durchholz recommended Rivertown. He said the company did similar repair work on Bob Jones Way in Evansville and is now working on the Lloyd Expressway. Mayor Neil Elkins added that they also worked on Market Street Park and worked with Ragle on the downtown Jasper project.

No start date has been set yet. Once the company is notified of the award, Rivertown must submit a construction schedule before it gets a notice to proceed. Mayor Neil Elkins said the bid documents include blackout dates around the downtown strolls. Work may be allowed between the Chocolate Stroll in early February and the Daffodil Stroll, and again after the April events.

The contract is the latest step in a long debate over how to fix the brick street. The board earlier unanimously approved a reconstruction plan that involves installing a concrete base beneath the existing brick pavers, a decision made after months of deliberation about how to address ruts and valleys that have formed in the roadway since the street’s completion in 2020.

The work will affect only the travel lanes; parking areas along Fourth Street will remain untouched, though the city plans to use differently colored bricks for the parking-space lines.