IA 44 Improvement Project – Notes from the Engineer
The Iowa DOT received 6 bids on April 20, 2010 for the IA 44 Improvements project. The bids ranged from a high of $6,576,000.00 to a low bid of $5,961,007.55.
Reilly Construction submitted the low bid on the IA 44 project.
Reilly Construction was the prime contractor for the City of Grimes on the South James Street project and has demonstrated that they are capable of coordinating the constructing of difficult projects. A local contractor, Concrete Technologies Inc. is the paving subcontractor that recently completed the paving on S. James Street for Reilly Construction.
A preconstruction meeting with the contractor, utilities, engineer and other officials is planned for May 14, 2010.
After the preconstruction meeting, a public meeting for all affected property owners and other interested Grimes citizens with Reilly Construction and FOX Engineering is scheduled for May 20, 2010, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00p.m. at Grimes City Hall.
Starting on Wednesday June 2, 2010 from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and thence every Wednesday thereafter until further notice, a time period has been set aside at Grimes City Hall for the public to meet with FOX Engineering and representatives from Reilly Construction to discuss the progress of the project and construction issues.
The contractor has scheduled the project to start construction during the week of May 24, 2010. It is anticipated that the construction of the project will take the entire season to get the paving completed and have all paving lanes functional prior to winter. The contract time period is 100 working days. As defined by IDOT, working days do not include Saturdays and Sundays, rain days or days when the grade is too wet. With this in mind, the contract period may continue until December 2010. Project final completion, final clean up and restoration of some property may be delayed until the spring of 2011.
Currently, Communication Technologies is working with MidAmerican Energy, Mediacom and Patec to relocate overhead lines in the IA 44 Corridor to facilitate construction of the IA 44 project. Recently, underground ducts have been installed along South James Street and across IA 44 to North James Street. This work is continuing for the rest of this week and next week Communication Technologies will start installing ducts along the south side of IA 44 from James Street to east of Little Beaver Drive.
Black Hills Power and Light is also planning to relocate their gas main and services along IA 44 during the next two months.
Should you have any questions or concerns about this project, please contact HWY 44 Project Engineer, Jerry Byg at 515-291-2241. Note that Mr. Byg will be onsite for the duration of the project. There will be a project trailer located at 101 NE Harvey Street (City Hall).