By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
City Council approves more 8th/9th St. bids
Placeholder Image
MONROE - The 8th and 9th street reconstruction project, part two, is now in motion.

The city is expected to hire Rock Road Companies, Inc. of Janesville as the general contractor for stormwater and road reconstruction on the 8th and 9th street project, starting this spring.

Rock Road Companies submitted the lowest bid of $3.1 million.

The street-widening project is running concurrently with the city's replacement of sanitary sewer and water lines along the same route. The council accepted the bids for sewer and water improvement project Dec. 21 and awarded the contract to Dane County Contracting, LLC, Dane, Wis., for $851,000.

The city's Board of Public Works recommended Rock Road after reviewing six bids for the project on Monday. All of the bids were approved by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

The company is expected to receive the City of Monroe Common Council's nod of approval Tuesday.

A local company, McGuire Inc., Monroe, bid $3.3 million for the job, and came in second. The highest bid was $4.1 million from Fischer Excavating, Freeport.

According to Al Gerber, city engineering department supervisor, the street-widening project is 80 percent funded by federal, state and Department of Natural Resources grants.

Monroe officials will spend about 20 percent of the cost of the project.

Grant amounts are capped, Gerber added, and any costs from change orders that go above the caps would be the city's responsibility.

The 8th and 9th Street corridor, from 7th Avenue to 20th Avenue, will be widened to three lanes, and new stormwater sewer will be installed

The road was graded last year as receiving a failing 'F,' on an A-F scale used by the state. The three-lane widening will bring it up to a C rating.

The combined contractor costs of $4 million does not include additional costs for engineering design revisions and additional grant application submissions.

The entire two-part project was postponed last February when council members discovered their original plans did not include a full replacement of water and sanitary sewer lines.

The water utility had planned only to replace and reroute water lines at intersections, where the new storm sewer would interfere, at an estimated cost of about $182,000.

The estimated cost of a full replacement of sanitary sewer in 2009 was about $410,000.

The total cost of the two concurrent projects, street widening and all infrastructure installation, has doubled since its inception in 2003 - from $2.3 million to an estimated $4.6 in 2009. Then-mayor Ron Marsh told the council the city had spent about $750,000 "out-of-pocket" thus far for engineering, surveying and land acquisition.

The DOT project has passed state and federal historic and ecological preservation approval.