Ortonville – With a bid that was six percent lower than the engineers estimate, the Michigan Department of Transportation awarded the reconstruction contract for the South Street Bridge, to Utica based Posen Construction, Inc.
MDOT’s preliminary announcement indicates that Posen’s bid of $548,979.50 was almost $50,000 less than the next lowest bidder, to reconstruct the bridge and related approach work on South Street.
According to Village Clerk Mary Clark, a preconstruction meeting between the contractor and engineers from Rowe Engineering, will take place within the week in order to begun the reconstruction on June 10.
Having been awarded critical bridge funding from MDOT in February, 2003, the original plans were to reconstruct the 55 year old South Street artery bridge as a covered wooden structure.
Although it would be more cost effective to build the cover at the time of the state funded reconstruction, council agreed not to commit to the decorative cover.
The additional cost for the cover would have been $176,000 that would have fallen on the village.
Council approved, however, for Rowe Engineering Project Manager Craig Schripsema to pursue plans for reconstructing the bridge in timber, with steel reinforcement to accomodate a wooden cover at a later date.
Currently the total cost of the reconstruction is estimated to be $700,000 with MDOT funding to cover 95 percent regardless of final costs.