The second opening of bids for Bridge No. 158 on County Road 700 East north of County Road 600 North in Starke County is under review with Starke County Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler.
He commented that the bids opened Monday night during the Starke County Commissioners meeting again came in too high over the engineer’s estimate of $342,000. JCI Bridge Group out of La Porte bid about $489,000, La Porte Construction bid about $561,000 while Ellas Construction bid about $475,000.
Ritzler said he and Mark Wilson will be looking at the specs and determine what may be the driving force behind the higher bids. He commented that the bids the first time around were higher due to the quicker timeline of completion of the project, but that’s not the case in this most current request for bids.
A culvert at that location collapsed in June 2019 due to unstable soils. It was recommended that a bridge be constructed in that area as pilings would solve the poor soil issue, according to Ritzler. In a report to the commissioners, it states that the soil reports do not support the use of a pipe or an aluminum box culvert.
Ritzler further stated that he will look into other options if the cost remains high to construct a bridge there.
The road remains closed. Oregon-Davis school bus drivers used that route to bus students to and from school, but they are traveling a couple of extra miles around that closure to drive to safely transport children.
