Bids offer savings

Most local officials walked away with smiles plastered — or perhaps paved — on their faces.

Bids for local paving projects funded via Community Crossings grants came in well below estimates, with the exception of work planned for Dunkirk. They were opened Friday morning at Community Resource Center in Portland.

The result will be lower-than-expected local match requirements for the municipalities involved.

E&B Paving of Anderson was the low bidder on four of the five projects — Portland, Pennville, Bryant and Salamonia — coming in at least $25,000 lower than runner-up Milestone of Richmond on each and at least $125,000 under the projected budget for each. It did not bid on the Dunkirk work.

Brooks Construction of Fort Wayne was the low bidder for the Dunkirk project at $432,417, which was nearly $150,000 higher than the projected budget. Milestone was the only other bidder.

A. Landon Excavating of Portland also bid on three of the five projects.

Low bids will be forwarded to engineers and city/town attorneys for their review. They will then be presented to the appropriate governmental group for approval at their next meeting. Those are as follows: Pennville and Salamonia town councils Tuesday; Portland Board of Works and Bryant Town Council on Thursday; Dunkirk City Council on Feb. 11.



Asphalt prices for the low bids came in at about $65 per ton compared to budget estimates of more than $80 per ton, resulting in the considerable savings.

Local officials and their engineering partners said the concrete work involved was the reason for the substantially higher bids for Dunkirk. The other projects were asphalt only.

Funding for all of the projects is on a 75-25 basis, with three-quarters coming from the state grant program and the other quarter to be paid from local funds. County commissioners committed the local match for the Pennville, Bryant and Salamonia projects via economic development funds from NextEra Energy Resources’ Bluff Point Wind Energy Center.

Portland picked up the biggest savings Friday morning as E&B’s bid ($237,471.43) for its work came in at less than half of the budgeted amount ($500,103.79). As a result, the city’s required matching funds dropped from the estimate of just over $125,000 to $59,367.86.

(Unused grant funding because of the low bids will go back to the state. The city does not have the option of adding additional streets to its project.)

Paving in Portland will include all of Bridge Street, Meadow Lane, Hickory Court and Rayburn Drive. Also to be paved will be Commerce Street between Water and Votaw streets; Floral Avenue between Chicago Avenue and Meridian Street (U.S. 27); Middle Street between Votaw and Water streets; Pleasant Street between Main and Walnut streets; Ship Street between Main and Bridge streets; and Walnut Street between Pleasant and Commerce streets.

E&B came in well below estimates for Pennville, Bryant and Salamonia as well.

For Pennville, the budget was $327,965.43 while E&B’s low bid came in at $198,719.06. That takes the town’s local match requirement from the projected $81,991.36 to $49,679.77. Work will include paving parts of Washington, Meridian, Liberty and Main streets.

For Bryant, the budget was $380,028.73 while E&B’s low bid came in at $231.059.56. That takes the town’s local match requirement from the projected $95,007.18 to $57,755.39. Paving will include all of Elm and Meridian streets, Bryant Pike and Belgian Lake as well as parts of Main, Railroad, Wilson, Francis, Malin and Walnut streets.

For Salamonia, the budget was $292,005.84 while E&B’s low bid came in at $171,798.56. That takes the town’s local match requirement from the projected $73,001.48 to $42,949.64. Paving will include essentially every street in the town.

Construction is scheduled for this summer.

Dunkirk was approved for $212,271 in grant funding for paving and sidewalk improvements for Commerce, Washington and Lincoln streets. Paving work was slated for Highland Avenue and Barbier Street.

Though Friday’s bid came in well over the project’s budget, Jay County community development director Ami Huffman said she is hopeful she can find a way to help the city bridge the gap.

Jay County is already under contract with Milestone for its Community Crossings work, which began in 2018. Paving includes Boundary Pike between Portland and county road 300 East, and county road 500 West between county road 200 South and Indiana 26.