LOCKPORT, N.Y. — Bids to conduct a long awaited construction project aimed at re-opening a road closed in 2014 due to erosion were unsealed at the Niagara County Office Building on Wednesday.
The job at hand is to fix a portion of Tonawanda Creek Road in the Town of Clarence, which was shut down more than five years ago when it collapsed near Westphalinger Road where it hugs Tonawanda Creek.
The lowest bid among those submitted by eight contractors was by Union Concrete and Construction of West Seneca, at $7,258,779.82. This was more than $2 million lower than the highest of the bids submitted.
However, just because it had the lowest bid does not automatically assure that the firm will get the job according to Niagara County Commissioner of Public Works Garret A. Meal.
“At this point there’s going to be a pretty thorough review process where the first thing we have to do is go through and check the math and make sure all the numbers are appropriate, and assess the technical qualifications of the bidder which is required for any federal aid project,” Meal said.
The project may eligible for 80 percent in federal funding.
If everything checks out, Meal says preliminary work on stabilizing the embankment could begin sometime this winter, with reconstruction of the road perhaps starting in the spring.
Part of the work will involve sinking pylons into shoreline soils to uphold the material that will be used to fill in the area and thwart further erosion.
A Long Road to This Point
It was a lengthy process to get to this point due to need to secure federal dollars, the conducting of a soils assessment study, and obtaining the needed permits to do the work because it involves construction along a waterway — a process which Meal indicated was arduous.
It also required the development of a partnership between Niagara County and neighboring Erie County.
While the section of Tonawanda Creek Road is actually within Erie County, Niagara County was given the administrative lead on the project because it was able to obtain funding for two other projects in the vicinity, which are on its side of Tonawanda Creek.
“This was a bit unique, but both counties border Tonawanda Creek and we have common problems,” said Meal. “So when the funding came through we were able to address problems both our side and Erie County’s under one project and it really worked out great for both sides."