TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Bids Drop As More Seek Road Projects

ADVERTISEMENT

By RICH SHOPES

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 2, 2008

TAMPA - Hammered by a stalled construction economy, more contractors are turning to cities, counties and the state for public works jobs.

One result: Those governments are saving a bundle on road projects.

In July, Hillsborough County awarded the widening of Race Track Road to R.E. Purcell Construction Co. for $10.1 million - a bargain considering county engineers had estimated bids closer to $13.4 million.

Two months ago, the state Department of Transportation awarded the widening of U.S. 301 in south Hillsborough to Prince Contracting Co. for $60.8 million. Engineers initially priced the project at $90.7 million.

"It's a dramatic change from where we were," said Scott Collister, director of transportation development at the DOT's Tampa office. "We used to put projects out to bid and get maybe two or three bidders, sometimes one bidder."

The upcoming 40th Street widening from Humphrey Street to the River Pines Apartments attracted a whopping 20 bidders, offering $8.8 million to $5.1 million to do the job. The city, which advertised the project, initially budgeted the work at $9 million.

"In general now, most anything we bid we're seeing anywhere from eight to 14 bidders," city contracts administrator David Vaughn said.

The lower-than-estimated bids are giving governments more options on what to do with their capital improvement budgets.

By law, money left over from capital projects must go back to the capital improvement budget, not toward salaries and general operating expenses.

Tampa's capital improvement budget next year is $169 million, up $50.5 million from the current fiscal year. The county's five-year capital improvement budget is $996 million.

The city and county plan to assign extra money stemming from low bids to projects that had been put off because of cost.

If approved by elected officials, two upcoming county projects could benefit from added funds - the widening of Lithia-Pinecrest Road from Bloomingdale Avenue to County Road 39, and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard from Bearss Avenue to Palm Springs Boulevard.

The state said it might use the money to break ground on projects originally scheduled for a year or two from now. Collister said no decision has been made as to which projects to fast-track.

The money comes at an opportune time, he said. Gas tax revenue is dwindling, shrinking the funding pool for state projects. The DOT district for the Tampa Bay area saw funding for road work decrease to $164 million this year, a $47 million drop.

Contractors, meanwhile, complain the lower bids couldn't come at a worse time as material costs are soaring.

Iron and steel prices for June were up 97 percent over the same month last year. Diesel is up 85 percent and asphalt, a byproduct of oil refining, is 14 percent higher, said the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, a trade group in Washington.

The competition has some contractors submitting bids so low they risk not making money. They're trimming overhead and hoping they're not hammered by rain, delivery glitches or unexpected problems.

They're still glad for the government contracts because private-sector work has decreased precipitously, said Tim Smith, vice president of Thonotosassa-based Dallas 1 Construction & Development, which bids both private and public sector jobs.

"When you take $200 or $300 million out of the private end and got contractors trying to replace that, you're going to have a lot of guys jumping over to public jobs," he said.

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or rshopes@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT