Knife River of Kalispell was awarded the construction project for the second segment of the southern section of the U.S. 93 Alternate Route, a job the company said could provide employment for at least 30 workers.
Knife River bid $8.2 million on the project, the lowest of the six bids sent in. Columbia Fall’s Schellinger Construction Co. Inc. came in second at $8.4 million, according to the Montana Department of Transportation.
The 1.5-mile section of road will run from Airport Road to the bypass intersection with U.S. Highway 93 South. State engineers estimated that this section would cost nearly $10.3 million to build.
Alrick Hale, Knife River’s vice president and general manager in Kalispell, said minor work on their section of the bypass should begin by mid-January. The major work won’t start until the weather permits, Hale said.
The new project will allow Knife River to put 30 to 40 people to work, Hale said. These workers will be Knife River crews that are seasonally laid off during the winter, he said, and he was not yet certain about subcontracting work to different companies. Hale estimated that a few new jobs would be created through subcontracting, but nothing has been decided yet.
This segment of the bypass will connect to the first segment, bid out to Ames Construction Inc. in November. Together they will make up the southern half of the bypass, connecting U.S. Highway 93 south of Kalispell to U.S. Highway 2 west of Kalispell. The northern half of the bypass will continue from U.S. Highway 2 and connect back to U.S. Highway 93 north of Kalispell at its intersection with West Reserve.
Utah-based Ames Construction bid the highest for the second southern segment at $9.4 million. Other bidders included Missoula’s Riverside Contracting Inc. with $8.9 million, Kalispell-based LHC Inc. of with $9 million and Kalispell’s Nelcon Inc. with $9.3 million.
The law dictates that the Montana Transportation Commission has to award construction projects to the lowest bidder. This caused some local grumblings after Ames received the first project, out-bidding local construction companies by millions of dollars.
However, Montana Department of Transportation Director Jim Lynch said the current lowest-bidder system is in place to protect taxpayers from paying for inflated project costs.
Earlier reports from Ames indicated construction would not begin on their segment of the road until March.