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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Hwy 169 project set to begin next month

Low bid comes in $5.5 million below estimate

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 11/30/16

REGIONAL—After more than five years of twists, turns, and controversy, the Hwy. 169 reconstruction in Eagles Nest Township is set to get underway as early as next month, and potentially with funds …

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Hwy 169 project set to begin next month

Low bid comes in $5.5 million below estimate

Posted

REGIONAL—After more than five years of twists, turns, and controversy, the Hwy. 169 reconstruction in Eagles Nest Township is set to get underway as early as next month, and potentially with funds to spare.

A Wisconsin-based firm, Hoffman Construction, is the apparent low bidder on the project, at $16.4 million. That’s well below the project estimate of $22 million. Project Manager Michael Kalnbach said the difference, of more than $5.5 million from the estimate, is unusual, and it could open up the possibility of additional improvements along the corridor. MnDOT officials had assumed for some time that the Eagles Nest reconstruction and realignment would deplete all the remaining funds dedicated to improvements along the heavily-traveled highway.

According to Kalnbach, about $16 million in dedicated federal funds remain, along with the state’s 20-percent match. In addition, the state had allocated extra funds to cover the anticipated construction shortfall. That would put total remaining funds at about $1.8 million, according to Kalnbach. Those funds would be available to coverage overages on the Eagles Nest segment or could be used for other improvements along the corridor.

“It now appears there may be some of those dollars still left,” said Kalnbach.

MnDOT had originally planned to cut down a series of hills in Vermilion Lake Township, which significantly impacted sight lines in that several mile stretch, but had assumed that the cost of the Eagles Nest project would make that impossible. The cost of a major realignment and the presence of sulfide-bearing rock raised environmental concerns, requiring mitigation, and all those factors were expected to push costs higher. But the project bid from Hoffman includes the cost of implementing a sulfide mitigation plan, according to Kalnbach, although it does not include the cost of long-term monitoring of potential acid runoff.

Kalnbach said MnDOT officials still have to review the submission from Hoffman and other contractors, to ensure that the bids were fully responsive and don’t include significant errors or omissions that could prompt contract adjustments down the road. Kalnbach said that process will likely take until the end of the month. Barring a major change or issue, he expects the contract will be in effect beginning Jan. 3, 2017. “We’re anxious to finally get started in the field,” said Kalnbach.

MnDOT declines further analysis

The bid-letting came as MnDOT officials were still facing pushback over the potential risks of sulfide-bearing rock that will be exposed during construction. The Environmental Protection Agency had urged MnDOT to conduct some additional geological mapping and analysis to address concerns raised by Six Mile Lake residents over MnDOT’s plans to dispose of sulfide-bearing rock near a known fault.

Matt Oberhelman, a retired DNR geologist and a seasonal resident of Six Mile Lake, said he no longer opposes the road realignment, but remains concerned with the planned location for rock disposal, which he said poses a long-term risk. “It’s on a fault zone, in a critical aquifer recharge area,” he said, adding, “it’s a thousand feet from a spring that discharges into Six Mile Lake.”

But MnDOT officials declined the EPA’s request for more analysis, citing the months of work conducted by the project’s Technical Working Group, which MnDOT contends fully addressed the sulfide concerns through a “robust” mitigation plan. In a Nov. 23 letter to EPA’s Virginia Laszewski, Kalnbach laid out the measures that MnDOT will be taking to address potential sulfide runoff, including mixing the sulfide-bearing material with large amounts of limestone to buffer any acid runoff. In addition, the plan calls for covering the material with a geomembrane in order to prevent water infiltration from above. The material will also be placed at least five feet above the ordinary seasonal high water table in order to prevent water infiltration from below. MnDOT also promises to conduct long-term monitoring to detect any potential acid runoff in the future.