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Arnold Drive bids under estimate

 

Construction could start in late June on a stretch of Arnold Drive in Glen Ellen.

The county opened bids recently for repaving and shoulder work from about Hill Road to the bridge at the Sonoma Developmental Center.

Six of the seven bids came in under the engineer's estimate of $1,041,234. Argonaut Constructors of Santa Rosa is the apparent low bidder with a bid of $708,408. Other bidders included Northwest General Contracting ($764,031), Team Ghilotti ($869,204), Ghilotti Construction Company ($884,780), Fedco Construction ($902,568), Ghilotti Brothers Inc., ($911,487) and W.R. Forde Associates ($1,086,560).

"Argonaut Constructors was the low bidder," said Tom O'Kane, the county's deputy director of Public Works and Transportation. "And we've checked their bid."

O'Kane said it was apparently a good time to accept bids as six were under the estimate.

The county is expecting to take the bid to the Board of Supervisors at its May 3 meeting.

"If that happens, we'll award the bid the next day," he said. "And hopefully, we'll start construction by the end of June."

The stretch of road to be repaired is about a mile and includes shoulder work, repairing the base where there's been water damage and repaving the road.

The work, depending on the weather, could take until sometime late fall.

The work is being paid for partially with Measure M and Proposition 1B funding.

Measure M, the official name of which is the Traffic Relief Act for Sonoma County, was passed by voters in November 2004, provides for a quarter-cent sales tax to be used to, among other things, maintain streets, fix potholes, Highway 101 work, restore and enhance transit and build safe bike and pedestrian routes. Proposition 1B is a state bond measure that passed in 2006.

"We've had a lot of calls from residents," O'Kane said. "This is going to look really nice when it's finished."

The county has other Arnold Drive projects on the drawing board for the future.

Measure M funds will also be used for the construction of a roundabout at Arnold and Agua Caliente Road.

Last month, O'Kane said Hanna Boys Center officials talked with 1st District Supervisor Valerie Brown about having the project pushed up as Hanna is in the middle of a building project and will be realigning its driveway with Agua Caliente Road.

Hanna will pay for the design of the roundabout as well as donating three corners of the rights of way.

O'Kane estimated the cost to build the roundabout somewhere in the $1.25 million range. And he said construction could start, pending permit approval, sometime next winter.