Major projects on state roadways in Belgrade are schedule to get underway this spring.
Six firms bid on a project that involves rehabilitating about 3 miles of Route 8/11 in that town, with the bids ranging from just under $4.4 million to $5.7 million.
And while that contract has yet to be awarded, the state Department of Transportation is preparing to seek bids for the reconstruction of Main Street, also known as Route 27, through the village of Belgrade Lakes.
The Main Street reconstruction — estimated at $2.5 million — is to be put out to bid Feb. 7 or 14, according to Ernie Martin, senior project manager with the DOT.
Work on both is anticipated to begin early in the spring, but only the Route 8/11 project is scheduled to continue through the summer.
It begins a half mile north of Route 27 and goes north for about 3 miles. It carries a completion date of June 3, 2019.
Rhobi Moulton, the department’s senior project manager for that project, said the contractor, likely to be Pike Industries, Inc., the apparent low bidder, will decide the precise schedule of the work once the final paperwork is submitted and approved.
“I’m sure the contractor will want to get out and start as soon as he can,” Moulton said Wednesday. “(Motorists) could see clearing as soon as March if we don’t have a lot of snow.”
She also noted that the contract restricts the range of the work area.
“There are limits on how much they can have how much dug up and how long a section they can have one-way traffic,” Moulton said.
Moulton said the project is aimed at rebuilding a road that has deteriorated badly. “It was originally scheduled to be done in 2006,” she noted, but added that the funding was not in place then.
She said the road’s base will be dug up and replaced with gravel and that drainage will be “significantly improved. Drainage is a very, very big factor in why it deteriorated so badly,” she said.
When the project is finished, motorists should notice a number of improvements, including 4-foot paved shoulders on each side of the 11-foot travel ways, and some work on dips and crests of hills to improve sight distance.
The total cost of the work, which includes the pre-engineering and other items, is about $5.4 million, she said.
The Main Street reconstruction job — estimated at $2.5 million — carries a total cost of $3.2 million, Martin said, counting the preliminary work and inspections required.
The project has been envisioned for some time, and in March the town’s voters agreed to accept about $500,000 from the Friends of Belgrade Lakes Village to be used to upgrade the sidewalks — they will be brick — and to install ornamental sidewalk lights.
“We are working on finalizing the city-state agreement which has to go to the town,” Martin said Wednesday.
That project imposes significant limitations on the contractor. The work can be performed only Monday through Saturday, sunrise to sunset.
All tree clearing must be completed by April 30 and then utility work, including replacing poles, removing the old ones and rewiring work, can be performed until June 28.
Then the work must be suspended until Sept. 4, 2018.
“We’re taking away the prime months,” he said. That was the result of negotiations between the department and the town because of concern about the effect the road work would have on the businesses in the village during the prime tourist searon.
The project is anticipated to run for two construction seasons, with an Oct. 19, 2019, completion date, which Martin said should give the contractor some flexibility.
“It’s a small project, but with the extension in times, that might be appealing to some contractors,” he added.
While construction is underway, alternating one-way traffic will be maintained through the work zone.
“Unfortunately, there’s no real good detour,” Martin said.
Once the project is finished, there should 31 designated parking spaces on the east side of the road and 28 on the west.
Martin said the department has no more formal public information sessions scheduled for the project. A series of them had been conducted previously.
“I think the department’s done a really good job communicating where we stand with this one,” Martin said.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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