The contract, with a bid of US$7 million, was awarded by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) to Hall Contracting – the company that last month completed repairs ahead of schedule to reopen the Interstate-64 Sherman Minton Bridge in Louisville.
The drive to open Eggners Ferry Bridge by the Memorial Day weekend at the end of May is to safegueard the summer tourism season for the region around Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.
The Eggners Ferry Bridge, which carries U.S. 68 and KY 80 across Kentucky Lake between Marshall and Trigg counties in the west of the US state of Kentucky has been closed since 26 January, when a cargo vessel struck and tore away a 98m-long span of the 80-year-old bridge.
“Since the night the bridge was struck and the highway was severed, we have worked with one thought in mind – to get this bridge repaired and Route 68/80 reopened as quickly as possible,” said Kentucky govenor Steve Beshear. “We have never lost sight of the damage that the loss of this bridge is doing to area businesses and the toll it has taken, in time and fuel costs, on folks who have been forced into long detours to get from one side of the lakes to the other.”
KYTC opted to make an emergency solicitation rather than go through its customary construction procurement process, in which a project is designed and put out for bids. The cabinet instead invited a select group of prequalified bridge contractors to submit bids by this week.
Contractors were given access to original design plans and recent inspection reports for the bridge. Each contractor was instructed to submit a lump-sum price that included all costs for engineering, materials, labour and equipment needed for repairing the bridge’s pier caps, replacing the truss span and reopening the bridge. The critical requirement is to reopen the bridge to traffic by Sunday 27 May. The contract includes a penalty of $50,000 per day for missing that deadline.
Two other companies besides Hall Contracting submitted proposals, with Walsh Contracting bidding US$11.2 million and CJ Mahan putting in a price of $11.4 million.
The project requires a new asphalt or concrete deck and a railing system at least as strong as the existing rails. In addition, the truss must be given one primer coat of paint that closely resembles the color of adjacent spans.
The Eggners Ferry Bridge is obsolete, as is a similarly aged and sized bridge over nearby Lake Barkley. Both are being replaced with four-lane arched bridges in a project that is still in preconstruction phase. The recommended highway plan that Beshear sent to the general assembly in January provides US$330 million in construction funding for the two bridges combined.
