City Council reviews extreme bids for projects

The Clear Lake City Council reviewed bids for local bridge and road work at its Monday, Aug. 6, meeting.  Extreme bids--at least one extremely favorable and others as expected or not quite as good, were approved.

The Council received good news on its North 40th Street Bridge Rehabilitation Project.  Larson Contracting, of Lake Mills, was the lowest of six bidders for the work with a bid of $47,425.  The city had budgeted $186,000 and the engineer’s estimate of probable construction costs was $104,155.  

The favorable bids led to the Council choosing to use a high performance concrete mix for the work, rather than standard concrete.  The HPC alternative was recommended by Veenstra & Kimm, consulting engineer’s for the project.  A pre-construction meeting will be held and contracts and bonds are anticipated by Aug. 20, with work to begin between Aug. 22 and Sept. 4.  The bridge will be closed during the work. Completion date for the project is Oct. 19.

The other project was the North Shore Drive (400 block) Streetscape Improvements. The bid letting for the project was held at the Iowa DOT office in Ames, due to the involvement of state funding for a portion of the work.  The lowest of three bidders was Vieth Construction, of Cedar Falls, in the amount of $243,773.    The winning bid was more than 13 percent above the engineer’s estimate, but just 5.5 percent higher than what the city had budgeted for the work.  

The Council also set a public hearing for Tuesday, Sept. 4, to discuss proposed improvements to the public alleys at 1st Avenue South and South 3rd Street.  The city had previously committed to improving the east-west alleyways in the city block adjacent to the Fredriksen on First redevelopment project.  

Mike Danburg, an engineer with Yaggy Colby & Associates, told the Council he estimates the cost of the project to be $53,310 for - Read More Via e-Edition