Transportation Commission awards $13.6 million in highway contracts in March

Construction crews will replace an older wooden bridge near Alcova in Natrona County.

The Wyoming Transportation Commission awarded Hedquist Construction Inc., of Casper, the $2.7 million contract for the bridge work during its meeting on Thursday, March 23. The commission awarded that contract and seven others totaling $13.6 million.

The work near Alcova will be on County Road 407. Crews will install a temporary bridge and then remove the existing bridge. The work is needed because the bridge has had issues with weight restrictions.

The new bridge will be steel and concrete. The bridge is being federally funded, which is why the Wyoming Department of Transportation is involved. WYDOT will oversee the work and is responsible for the design.

The contract completion date is Oct. 31, 2018.

Besides the bridge work, the rest of the contracts included road surfacing, upgrades to the variable speed limit signs and concrete barrier replacement.

Reiman Corp., of Cheyenne, was the low bidder on a $3.3 million pavement surfacing, concrete slab replacement and bridge rehabilitation projects in several locations in Converse and Natrona counties. The contract completion date is Oct. 31, 2018.

Intermountain Slurry Seal Inc., of Watsonville, California, won a $2.3 million contract for a chip seal project on roads in Lincoln, Sublette, Sweetwater and Uinta counties. Crews will chip seal parts of US 191 south of Farson and south of Pinedale, US 89 near Afton, US 189 near La Barge and Evanston and WYO 28 between Lander and Farson.

The chip seal work is part of WYDOT’s regular maintenance program to help prevent moisture from entering the pavement and to extend the use of the roads. The contract completion date is Aug. 31.

The commission awarded Wilson Bros. Construction Inc., of Cowley, a $2.1 million contract for rockfall mitigation work on US 14-16 between Yellowstone and Cody and on WYO 296, the Chief Joseph Highway.

On US 14-16, crews will be scaling back loose rock from the slopes in several locations to prevent rocks from falling. They also will be installing rock bolts to stabilize the walls and will install rockfall mesh and an attenuator to help contain rocks that fall from the slope and prevent them from going on the road. On WYO 296, crews will be removing the old rockfall mesh and replacing it with new mesh.

Intermountain Slurry Seal also won a $1.8 million contract for microsurfacing work, which will add an overlay to the road to improve skid resistance and remove ruts from the pavement, on a total of 25 miles on WYO 24 and WYO 585 in Crook County.

The work is being paid for with 10-cent fuel-tax revenue and is expected to be completed by Oct. 31.

The commission also awarded contracts for:

• $671,769 to Knife River, of Cheyenne, for a chip sealing project on WYO 130 starting in Saratoga and on WYO 789 north of Baggs by Aug. 31;
• $542,262 to Cache Valley Electric Co., of Salt Lake City, to upgrade the variable speed limit signs at 12 locations between Rawlins and Laramie in Albany and Carbon counties by Oct. 31; and
• $64,934 to Linch Environmental Contractors, of Linch, to repair a 130-foot section of concrete barrier that a semi truck damaged last fall by May 24.