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South Park Bridge ‘apparent low bid’: $96 million

March 8, 2011 3:46 pm
|      21 COMMENTS
 |   South Park | Transportation | West Seattle news

(King County rendering of new South Park Bridge design)
Two months after they were requested, bids were opened this afternoon for the new South Park Bridge, and the county has announced that the “apparent low bidder” is Kiewit-Massman. The joint venture of Kiewit Infrastructure West Company (Kiewit, by the way, helped build the West Seattle Bridge) and Massman Construction Company bid just over $96 million dollars, less than the county’s estimate ($98 million-$108 million). In the official county news release, King County Executive Dow Constantine called it an “excellent bid”; it needs to be evaluated before it becomes the official winning bid. Construction is expected to start in May, about 11 months after the old South Park Bridge was permanently closed, and the new bridge is expected to open in mid-2013. On the eve of the bid opening, the county threw a “Thank You, South Park” party last night at the Machinists Union Hall in SP (celebrants posed for the group photo below, including Constantine and King County Councilmember Joe McDermott)

(Photo by Ned Ahrens, courtesy King County DOT)

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21 Replies to "South Park Bridge 'apparent low bid': $96 million"

  • bridge to somewhere March 8, 2011 (5:43 pm)

    What are they thanking South Park for? (not that SP doesn’t deserve it–I just don’t understand the context in this story)

    • WSB March 8, 2011 (5:58 pm)

      Patience, among other things …

  • Anton Zafereo March 8, 2011 (5:59 pm)

    RIGHT ON !!

  • Kate K March 8, 2011 (7:31 pm)

    Glad they’re rebuilding the South Park bridge, but I wish they would have figured out a few years ago that this needed to be done instead of closing the bridge, then deciding to look for the money to replace it, then building it.

    Hope the South Park businesses can survive until the new bridge is completed.

    In my opinion, this was a MAJOR screw up.

  • LyndaB March 8, 2011 (7:34 pm)

    ^^That’s a tease if I ever saw one! Lol

  • (required) March 8, 2011 (9:44 pm)

    OK, and where did the “county’s estimate” of between $98 and $108 million taxpayer dollars come from? Seriously! If I had to give an estimate and said “oh, it’ll be about a hundred million bucks….give or take about ten million or so,” you’d think I was some idiot blog commenter. Yet, when the county does it, no one asks any questions? And what’s the deal — does the county give this ridiculous whimsical estimate then publicize it before the bidding process, as if to telegraph to bidders that if they want to get a lot of free tax money sent their way, all they need to come in just under that estimate, so that in the end their politicians come out looking wise and prudent, while the builder/developers that end up taking the dough come out not looking so greedy as builder/developers really are?

    Honestly.

  • dsa March 8, 2011 (11:43 pm)

    Victory. With Kiewit being the low bidder, the contract documents are probably in order.

  • dsa March 8, 2011 (11:45 pm)

    I meant to add that without WSB, there might not have been enough attention brought to this to get anything done in these tight financial times.

  • JC March 9, 2011 (7:42 am)

    Why did the county feel the need to throw a party at the union hall? Shouldn’t the union be throwing us a party to thank us for paying for this bloated piece of pork? Hell, if this job gets done for less than $100 million, I will throw a party.

  • BOOM! March 9, 2011 (9:41 am)

    $100,000,000.00!?!

    And flush goes our tax money.

    Why not just get the owners of the 10 or so businesses in South Park together and give them $2 mill each to make up for hardship and lost earnings. I’m sure they would be thrilled with that solution and it would save us tax payers a cool $80 mill!

    Honestly, the only reason this bridge should be replaced is if it is a critical piece of transportation infrastructure, and it isn’t.

  • bridge to somewhere March 9, 2011 (10:29 am)

    @BOOM!– actually, as someone who works down at Boeing field I can say that the South Park bridge being out is a bit of a pain for folks from West Seattle trying to get to South Seattle. Now, I don’t know how many of us there are or whether our pains are worth $100M, but it’s definitely not only a matter of the businesses suffering with that bridge being out. And I’m sure the folks living in South Park find it a major inconvenience too.

  • CandrewB March 9, 2011 (11:44 am)

    Everything that I or my wife do not use on a consistant basis is unneccesary pork spending and I demand it stopped. Stupid civilization.

  • BOOM! March 9, 2011 (2:58 pm)

    @CandrewB

    Interesting statement about how you and your wife take on the issue of the proper allocation of our scarce public resources. My fiancé and I take the opposite tact, we like for as much money as possible to be spent on projects that positively impact the fewest people in the most minimal way. I mean, you’re just a greedy SOB if you don’t, right?

  • CandrewB March 9, 2011 (3:36 pm)

    Sarcasm

  • ohreally... March 9, 2011 (3:42 pm)

    Just curious…is it out right racism, classism or social/economic status that some of these remarks based upon? This is a vital link for many people on SW King County & well as INDUSTRY (for you fiscal conservatives). Please refrain from spoiling a wonderful story.

  • J.R. March 9, 2011 (4:45 pm)

    The South Park Bridge is only a crtical piece of transportation infrastructure if you live in the area, work in the area, drive across the bridge to get to I-5 more quickly, or are moving goods across South King County.

    So, why is the West Seattle Bridge a critical piece of transportation infrastructure?

  • Mark March 9, 2011 (4:58 pm)

    Katek…the county did realize this years before it was forced to close the bridge. In 2007 King County voters said no to funding a new bridge. That gave the county the three years it needed to get everything in place to start building a new bridge if the voters approved the measure, which we didn’t do.

  • 22blades March 9, 2011 (5:07 pm)

    Boom: I, as a patron of the businesses there, am elated. I also used that bridge to do volunteer work. There was also a steady stream of trucks that used that corridor. Don’t know where you’ve been but…

    Kudos to WSB staying on top of this.

  • (required) March 9, 2011 (11:07 pm)

    @WSB

    Beloved WSB, thanks as always for your diligence, professionalism, and responsiveness. Thanks for the links to the documents. But unless I am missing something, none of them detail what basis in reality exists for the estimates the engineer gave. None of the documents (and I admit I may have missed them) explained the “engineer’s estimate” or how the bids have any basis in fiscal prudence. I mean, where exactly did they come up with “oh, it’ll be about a hundred million, give or take about ten million or so.” And why is no one else asking what’s up with that?

    I did see from the documents that bids came in between $96 and over $131 million. Pretty big range. That to me makes me more suspicious of the estimates of what it would truly take to get a new good bridge built.

    I’m surprised to see the estimates are not a bit more clearly explained. It’s our tax dollars. I suppose most people are content to just go along, but a hundred million bucks is still a hundred million bucks in a lousy economy. And there is some merit to the point that maybe that much money for this bridge is just not worth it to all of Seattle. Look, South Park is a great place — but if the city thinks it’s worth it to drop a hundred million bucks for the South Park bridge, why wouldn’t it make sense for the city to drop a hundred million bucks or so to make West Seattle’s I-35 safer by turning it into a boulevard from Roxbury to Alaska? Are lives and safety worth less than the convenience of having a new South Park bridge?

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