Transportation commission awards nearly $35 million in highway contracts

November 14, 2014

Contracts totaling $34.9 million for six highway projects around the state, including two to be funded with revenue from the 10-cent fuel tax increase, were awarded by the Wyoming Transportation Commission during its November meeting in Cheyenne.

Malcolm Drilling Co. of San Francisco won the largest of the contracts with the low bid of $10.8 million for installing coupled shear piles to stabilize the Hoback North landslide along US 26-89-189-191 about 10 miles south of Jackson. The work will include drilling 222 shafts into the bedrock above and below the highway. The shafts will then be filled with reinforcing steel and concrete and connected in pairs above ground with caps made of concrete and steel. The contract completion date is June 30, 2016.

Intermountain Construction and Materials of Gillette was the low bidder at $10.4 million for a contract to resurface and widen 8 miles of WYO 51 east of Gillette. The highway’s shoulders will be widened to 6 feet to improve safety, and a new layer of pavement added to handle growing traffic from development in the area. Turn lanes will be added at the highway’s intersection with Potter Lane and the entrance to the Black Hills Corp. power plant, and traffic signals will be upgraded at the intersection with Garner Lake Road. The work also will include a one-mile bike and pedestrian path. The contract completion date is Oct. 31, 2015.

Mountain Construction Co. of Lovell won a $6.6 million contract for concrete repairs on 5.9 miles of the eastbound lanes of I-80 east of Walcott Junction. The work will address deteriorating concrete at the joints between slabs by grinding off three inches of the existing concrete, breaking the remaining concrete into smaller slabs and then laying new pavement over that base. The work is scheduled for completion by Oct. 31, 2015.

Simon Contractors and Subsidiaries of Cheyenne was awarded a $3.86 million contract to grind off deteriorating pavement and replace it with a new layer of pavement on 10 miles of US 85 immediately east of I-25 north of Cheyenne. The work will be paid for with revenue from the 10-cent fuel tax increase, and the contract completion date is Oct. 31, 2015.

H-K Contractors of Idaho Falls submitted the low bid of $2.7 million for pavement rehabilitation on 6.5 miles of WYO 296 (Chief Joseph Highway). The work will include some shoulder flattening, a pavement overlay and a chip seal to the top of Dead Indian Pass about 37 miles northwest of Cody. The project will be paid for with revenue from the 10-cent fuel tax increase, and it is scheduled to be done by Sept. 30, 2015.

EHC of Deaver won a $518,000 contract for extending sidewalks, curb and gutter on WYO 30-789 in Basin and upgrading sidewalks on WYO 433 to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The contract completion date is Oct. 31, 2015.