Jeff Larrison of United Consulting and Pulaski County Highway Superintendent Kenny Becker told the Pulaski County Commissioners this week that they expect a delay in the construction process of the Monterey Bridge Project because of a delay with the INDOT agreement. Larrison explained that INDOT has pushed bid letting for projects throughout the state back several months and as a result, the Monterey Bridge project is expected to be let for bid in September—a two-month setback from their planned letting in July.
“We are still trying to convince them to move it back to a July letting, but I just don’t know how successful we’ll be on that. If it’s let in September, the contracts would probably be negotiated and signed by INDOT in early to mid October,” said Larrison.
There was some good news, however, as the appraisal on the final parcel of land to be acquired has been completed. Larrison recommended the commissioners sign paperwork to pay $900 to the owners of the property in order to finish the land acquisition process and move on to the next step. County Attorney Kevin Tankerslee told the commissioners that he had already reviewed the paperwork they were presented, and the paperwork was approved and signed.
And while the news of bridge work might not sound appealing to some with the upcoming construction season, Larrison reassured the commissioners that there would be little to no interference with traffic and the Monterey Bridge would not be closed during construction.
“It may be closed for a day or two at some point towards the end when they make the switch-over to open the new bridge up, but very minimal disruptions to traffic,” said Larrison.
