Road agency sees low bids on 57 projects
Among proffers is $12.5M for U.S. 67 job in Hampton
$12.5 million bid to widen a section of U.S. 67 in Calhoun County was among low bids worth $102.2 million that the Arkansas Department of Transportation opened Wednesday on 57 road and bridge projects.
The work on which bids were opened included four other projects exceeding $5 million. Those include a $6.7 million bid to improve a 5.9-mile section of Interstate 40 in Conway County.
The project on the 1.8-mile section of U.S. 67 through the city of Hampton is part of a long-range initiative to widen U.S. 167 from Interstate 530 in Saline County to El Dorado, a distance of more than 100 miles.
Most of the work of late has been confined to Calhoun County under the department’s $1.8 billion Connecting Arkansas Program, which is geared toward regionally significant projects and is largely funded through a statewide half-percent sales tax that voters approved in 2012.
Assuming the bid from McGeorge Construction Inc. of Little Rock is approved after a standard review of all low bids, the project would be the third undertaken on U.S. 167 in Calhoun County since 2017.
A $21.8 million project
that widened a 4.5-mile section from Hampton north to Arkansas 274 was completed last year, also by McGeorge Construction. A $29 million project to widen a 7-mile section north from Arkansas 274 is under construction and is almost 70% complete, according to the latest project update from the department.
Bids are scheduled to be open on a fourth project on U.S. 67 in Calhoun County in April. That project would widen a 5.7-mile section south from U.S. 79.
Once all of the work is completed, a small section of U.S. 67 near Ivan in Dallas County would be all that is left to be widened.
The project in Hampton will widen what already is a four-lane highway to five lanes, according to Jared Wyley, head of the Highway Department’s program management division. It will take about three years to complete.
“We want it,” said Rick Shirron, the mayor of Hampton, population 1,324. “You sure don’t want a bypass. This is going to be great. I own a tire place here. It will be good for business.”
The route through Hampton carries about 4,100 vehicles daily, according to department data. About 27% of the traffic is trucks.
“It will provide some relief for those in town, make left turns easier … and help traffic flow a little better,” Wyley said.
The projects on which bids were opened Wednesday included 26 on state highways, with low bids totaling $88.1 million; seven projects on county roads worth almost $4 million; and 24 city projects totaling $10.1 million.
Wyley said he was pleased with the bidding results.
“It looks like what we expected,” he said. “We got multiple bids on most of our projects. I’m pleased overall.”
The I-40 project involves milling up a section of the highway east from Plumerville and replacing it with new pavement, a cheaper alternative than full reconstruction. Rogers Group Inc. of Nashville, Tenn., submitted the low bid. An $8.7 million bid by Blackstone Construction LLC of Russellville was the only other bid that the department received for the project.
The project is part of the department’s $1.5 billion program to repair more than 500 miles of interstate, made possible by voter approval in 2011 of an initiative that allowed the department to issue up to $575 million in bonds to pay for it. The bonds are repaid largely from the state’s annual allotment of interstate maintenance money from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
A total of 47 projects covering almost 308 miles and worth $1 billion have been completed. Another four covering 34.6 miles and worth $247.9 million are under construction. Including Wednesday’s I-40 project, another 27 projects covering almost 160 miles and worth an estimated $219 million remain.
The other state projects on which bids were opened Wednesday were largely limited to heavy maintenance to extend the life of the roadways before more extensive work is necessary. The department’s recent focus has been to maintain the existing system at the expense of construction on new locations.
“A lot of pavement preservation was in today’s letting,” Wyley said. “You are going to see that in April and May, as well.”
The other projects with low bids exceeding $5 million, including location, bid amount and low bidder, are:
■ Repave sections on 16.1 miles of Arkansas 22 east and west of Paris in Logan County, $6.9 million, Blackstone Construction LLC of Russellville.
■ Repave sections on 12.1 miles of U.S. 82 between Crossett in Ashley County to Ballard Road just east of Strong in Union County, $5.7 million, Pine Bluff Sand & Gravel Co. of Pine Bluff.
■ Repave sections on 17.3 miles of U.S. 82 from U.S. 82B to Strong in Union County, $5.6 million, Salt Creek Paving and Construction Co. of Benton.