(Spirit Lake)—The reconstruction of Highway 86 between Highway 9 and the Minnesota border has reached another milestone. Dakin Schultz, District 3 planner with the Iowa Department of Transportation’s regional office in Sioux City tells KUOO news a contract has been awarded on the project…(click here for comment.) “The award went to Cedar Valley Corporation of Waterloo. The low bid was $7,414,000, considerably under our program estimate. So the contractor, and for those that don’t remember this is the reconstruction of Iowa 86 from Iowa 9 through the Minnesota stateline. That work will likely begin sometime this spring and continue through the majority of the construction season. Once we have a good handle on the schedule we’ll put out additional information.”
Schultz attributes a couple of factors to the bid coming in lower than the original estimate of $12.4 million…(click here for comment.) “Well we had good competition up there, for one, and I think last year’s dry, warm fall had contractors working a little longer getting most of their work done. So I think there was a need to try to fill schedules for 2013.”
Schultz says the project is slated for completion by this coming fall.
The posted detour for the project will be highways nine and 71 through Spirit Lake, then north on Highway 71 to Interstate 90 at Jackson. However, it’s expected most will use County Road M-49 along the west side of Big Spirit Lake, which connects in Minnesota with Jackson County Road 4, which goes over to Highway 86.
Schultz says the D.O.T expects to have a more detailed schedule for the project by the end of the month, once they’ve had a chance to meet with the contractor.
