Bids on the long-anticipated Third Avenue reconstruction project in downtown Spokane came in higher than the city had expected, and that will delay the scheduled April 1 start of the project.


Eller Corp., of Newman Lake, submitted the apparent low bid of $4.7 million, which was well above the citys estimated cost of $3.1 million for the project. The bid was one of only two submitted. The bids were opened Monday, March 7.


The project calls for replacing a 24-inch water-main pipe with 36-inch pipe in places and installing another 36-inch water main, all under Third, then reconstructing the busy thoroughfare from Division Street to Maple Street.


The work is to be one segment of a two-phase project, to be paid for jointly by the city water department and city streets department, stretching a total of about two miles from Division to the Inland Empire Highway, and on to the southwest to Ninth Avenue. That second phase from Maple to the west and southwest was scheduled for this summer, but now will await a decision on the Division to Maple first-phase bid, says Gary Nelson, senior engineer.


We are going to be delayed a week at the minimum to evaluate the bids, says Ken Brown, principal design engineer.


The project originally was scheduled to begin April 1 and to be completed in late July, but an additional 20 working days, or about one month of time already had been added to the work schedule prior to the bid opening, says Brown. With the delayed start date, that means the project, if it is begun this season, could probably be completed no sooner than early September, he says.


Brown says the engineering department will study why the bids came in higher than expected before making a recommendation to the City Council on whether to accept or reject the low bid.


Other options include rebidding the project, adding a smaller or larger piece of work to make it more appealing to contractors, or even finding an alternative method of making the water system portion of the project work, says Brown.