The Marshall County Commissioners opened bids last week for a list of nine projects that will fix damages done to bridges by the February 2018 flood waters. The projects are bridge scour repairs involving the installation of flowable fill, installing geotextiles, placing riprap, installing mulch seeding and incidental work.
Three companies presented bids with an extremely wide range of offers. Haskins Underground from Plymouth had the low bid of $92,872 while Pioneer Associates from Leo offered a bid of $149,892.90 and H.R.P. Construction of South Bend presented the highest bid at $247,866.
Project sites include bridge #1 on North Ule Trail over the Jesson McKesson Ditch; bridge #15 on North Tamarack Road over the Peter Sarber Ditch; bridge #17 on North Sycamore Road over the Sherman Emmons Ditch; bridge #19 on West 3B Road over the Peter Sarber Ditch all in Polk Township; bridge #40 on East A Road over the Yellow River; bridge #56 on East 6th Road over the Yellow River; bridge #85 on Hickory Road over the Isaac Sells Ditch in German Township; bridge #97 on East 7th Road over the Dausman Ditch in Bourbon Township and bridge #308 on 18th Road over the Charles Pfiefer Ditch in Walnut Township.
The bridge scour repairs involve the installation of flowable fill, installing geotextiles, placing riprap, installing mulch seeding and incidental work.
Once the bids were opened, County Highway Superintendent Jason Peters and Mike Overfell from USI Consulting reviewed the bids for accuracy and specifications. After completing their review, they returned to the meeting and recommended the low bid of Haskins Underground for the projects. The commissioners unanimously approved the recommendation.
The estimate for the project was in the $200,000 range and Overfell said because Haskins Underground Inc. is a local contractor he felt their bid was lower because they wouldn’t have to stage at all of the various locations. Work on the projects will begin early next year and should be completed by spring.
