Harrison & Burrowes Bridge CNS of Glenmont, who submitted the low bid of $46.6 million, has been observed on scene the past several days, and Janice Hawk-Baldwin of Hawk Drilling said the company started drilling wells Tuesday for sewage and water systems at the staging area.
State Department of Transportation Spokeswoman Carol Breen said the contract hinges on approval from the state Office of the Comptroller, who will review the bid and ensure projections are plausible.
“[Harrison & Burrowes] is the apparent lowest responsible bidder. I can’t say much more beyond that, but we’ve used them on many different projects before and never had a problem with them,” Breen said.
A “pre-construction” meeting is scheduled between officials today.
“We’ll map out a contract schedule and discuss the details,” Breen continued. “Once the project is awarded, construction will probably start within a week. We do hope the bid process will be complete by the end of July.”
Brad Brownell of Brownell Lumber in Edinburg said as a local businessman, he’s acting as a “clearinghouse” for contractors to make sure they have sufficient services and employees.
Brownell said while the contract still hasn’t been officially awarded, its Harrison & Burrowes’ “intent to start construction as soon as possible because of the short construction season.”
Approximately 75 of their employees will work on the bridge, he said, with additional local employees on two or three other parcels.
“We’re making provisions to ensure local contractors are pooled together. We’re hosting a company that’s coming from out of the area, so they don’t necessarily know the good people from the bad people,” he said. “The smoother we make this for the contractors, the smoother all of this is going to go.”
The bridge is 80 years old, and links the two halves of the town of Edinburg, providing a critical link for transportation and emergency services.
The bridge’s structural integrity has diminished significantly, yielding red flags for the first time in an annual inspection in July. The Saratoga County Department of Public Works reduced the bridge’s capacity to one-way alternating traffic, and vehicles weighing more than 15 tons are prohibited from driving on it.
The bridge replacement project will extend from Wessels Road across the bridge to County Highway 7, also known as South Shore Road. The new bridge will be put up just south of the existing structure, which will remain open to traffic while the new bridge is being built.