Transportation commission awards $15.5 million in highway contracts

Contracts totaling $15.5 million for six highway projects around the state were awarded by the Wyoming Transportation Commission during its June meeting in Cheyenne.

Riverside Contracting of Missoula, Mont., won the largest of the contracts with the low bid of $9.6 million for widening and resurfacing four miles of US 14-16-20 between the Shoshone National Forest boundary and the Wapiti Bridge west of Cody. The work will widen the highway’s safety shoulders from the current six feet to eight feet, and also include some isolated reconstruction. The contract completion date is Sept. 30, 2015.

Custom Lighting Services of West Jordon, Utah, won a $2.2 million contract for installing overhead electronic message signs at seven locations on Interstate 80 between Rawlins and Cheyenne. The signs will be installed in the eastbound lanes at Elk Mountain, west of the Wagonhound Interchange, west of Laramie, and west of Cheyenne. In the westbound lanes the signs are planned for west of Laramie, east of the Quealy Dome Interchange, east of the Arlington Interchange and east of the Elk Mountain Interchange. The signs are scheduled to be in operation by Oct. 31, 2016.

The Wardell Road bridge over the Green River in Sublette County will be replaced under a $1.8 million contract awarded to Gerber Construction of Lehi, Utah. The existing bridge is only a single lane and has weight restrictions on the loads it can carry. Traffic will be able to continue to use the existing bridge while the new structure is being built beside it. The contract completion date is Oct. 31, 2015.

Casper’s Oftedal Construction submitted the low bid of $1.5 million for guardrail replacement on sections of US 18-20 in Converse and Niobrara counties, and sections of US 85 in Goshen and Niobrara counties by June 30, 2015.

Wilson Brothers Construction of Cowley won a $232,000 contract to remove the existing drainage culvert on WYO 431 (Lower Gooseberry Road) southwest of Worland, and replace it with three new culverts to improve drainage and safety. The contract completion date is Oct. 31.

A railroad quiet zone will be created at Southwest Drive in west Cheyenne under an $183,000 contract awarded to Knife River of Casper. The work will include installing concrete median curbs to prevent drivers from going around lowered crossing gates when a train is approaching. The medians and additional warning signs will improve the crossing’s safety enough that trains will no longer be required to sound their horns as they pass. The work is expected to be done by Oct. 31.