Local Stimulus Projects Get On Track
12/8/2009
THE NWI TIMES - Keith Benman
After months of local wrangling over projects and more months of waiting for federal approvals, bids will be opened today on 40 Northwest Indiana stimulus projects worth more than $11 million. A combination of factors has delayed the awarding of contracts for Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission projects, including a lack of engineering for some and the painstaking federal approval process, according to NIRPC planner Gary Evers. In April, NIRPC submitted a list of about 70 stimulus road and transportation projects totalling $20.3 million to the Indiana Department of Transportation. But it wasn't until October that bids were opened on the first two projects and only eight more were done in November. The good news is that contractors have bid 20 percent to 30 percent less than engineers' estimates on the NIRPC projects already let for bid, meaning there should be money left to do about seven additional projects included on a contingency list, Evers said. The 40 NIRPC projects are among 84 projects statewide that will have bids opened at INDOT headquarters in Indianapolis today, according to INDOT spokesman Wil Wingfield. That is the largest number of bid openings on any single day so far this year, Wingfield said. Link
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