Transportation agency opens low bids on 24 projects worth $76.7 million.

The Arkansas Department of Transportation on Wednesday opened low bids on 24 projects worth $76.7 million, including a $22.9 million project to widen a section of U.S. 65 in Boone County.

Other projects on which bids were opened included work on the Monticello Bypass in Drew County, bridge work on Interstate 555 in the St. Francis Sunken Lands Wildlife Management Area in Poinsett County, and rehabilitation of the Galloway exit of Interstate 40 in North Little Rock.

The U.S. 65 project is part of a long-term effort to widen a 35-mile section of the highway between Clinton in Van Buren County and Harrison in Boone County.

Nabholz Construction Corp. of Conway was the low bidder on the project, which will widen 4.5 miles of U.S. 65 from Maxie Camp Road to Arkansas 206 in Boone County to four and five lanes from two.

Nabholz beat out five other contractors whose bids ranged from $23.4 million to $26 million. The bid won’t be final until department officials review it for accuracy.

The work is part of the state’s Connecting Arkansas Program, a $1.8 billion construction effort focusing on high-priority corridors. It is financed, in part, by a half-percent statewide sales tax that voters approved in 2012. The tax is in place for 10 years.

Six projects have been completed under the program. Eight projects are under construction. Twenty-one other projects remain.

Other projects on which bids were opened Wednesday, including the low bid and the low bidder:

Base and surfacing work on the Monticello Bypass at U.S. 425 and U.S. 278, $16.2 million, Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel Co.

Work on 16 bridges on I-555 in the St. Francis Sunken Lands Wildlife Management Area, $12.3 million, American Contracting and Services Inc. of Jeffersonville, Ind.

Interchange improvements at the Galloway exit of I-40, including construction of a deceleration ramp for westbound traffic, $8 million, Kiewit Infrastructure South Co. of Fort Worth.