A Pennsylvania joint venture has bid almost $186 million to build a critical component of the new Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge - an offer that relieved Maryland transportation officials called an acceptable price to get the delayed project back on track.
Unlike a round of bidding that drew one bid last year, yesterday's drew five proposals from joint ventures the centerpiece of the $2.4 billion project, the drawbridge and control tower.
American Bridge Co., a union contractor based in Coraopolis, Pa., led the joint venture that submitted the lowest bid, giving it the opportunity to negotiate a contract with the State Highway Administration to perform the work.
The $185.9 million bid was about 10 percent higher than the state's $168 million estimate, but state highway administrator Parker Williams said he was pleased with the offer. "It's within the range of what we find acceptable," he said.
Replacing the 40-year-old Wilson bridge - an essential transportation link for traffic on the East Coast - will be the most expensive public works project in Maryland history.
State transportation officials were stung last year when they sought bids for a contract to build almost the entire bridge. They received one offer of $860 million, 73 percent higher than the state's estimate of $500 million.
Transportation officials rejected the offer and set up a review committee to determine why the price came in so high. Among other things, the panel suggested breaking the job into pieces to attract more bidders.
Williams expressed relief yesterday that the strategy seemed to have worked after delaying the project nearly a year.
"It was critical that we get multiple bids today, and that's what we got," he said, adding that if officials had not received an acceptable bid, they might have had to endure years of further delays while the bridge's design was re-evaluated.
The American Bridge joint venture with Edward Kraemer & Sons of Plain, Wis., was the clear low bidder. The other four offers were between $221 million and $245 million.
The low bid does not necessarily give American Bridge the contract. State officials say they must still verify that the company's offer meets all requirements and then negotiate a final deal.
If that goes smoothly, officials hope to make a contract award in January and get work started in March, Williams said.
The bridge on the outer loop of the Capital Beltway is expected to open in late 2005 or early 2006. When it does, its six lanes will carry the traffic that now uses the existing two-way, six-lane bridge until a new inner-loop bridge opens in 2007-2008.
The twin spans of the completed Wilson bridge will carry 12 lanes of traffic across the Potomac River between Prince George's County and Alexandria, Va.
Among those cheered by the low bid were representatives of the International Union of Electrical Engineers.
David K. Miller, a union representative who attended the bid opening, said American Bridge has "been around a long time and they've made many monumental structures throughout the United States."
Best of all, he said, it's a union contractor.
"It just goes to show you a union contractor can be as competitive as anybody," said Miller, who said he formerly worked for the company.
Gov. Parris N. Glendening had tried to build the bridge under a "project labor agreement" requiring contractors to follow union work rules and to generally use union workers. Critics said such an agreement would put nonunion contractors at a disadvantage.
The governor scrapped that attempt in December after the Bush administration threatened to cut off federal funds for the project.
The federal government is putting about $1.5 billion toward the project, with Maryland and Virginia sharing the remaining costs. The total cost has been estimated at about $2.4 billion. Maryland is administering the project because the bridge is within its borders.