Ferndale to Decide on E. 9 Mile Project…

Ferndale to Decide on E. 9 Mile Project After Higher than Expected Bids
(Crystal A. Proxmire, June 9, 2014)
 
When the bids came in at the end of the day Friday for the E. 9 Mile construction project, the numbers caught Ferndale Department heads off guard. Whey they thought would be a $1.6 million project came back with bids of $2.4 million and higher.
The difference prompted the Downtown Development Authority to cancel information sessions on the project, and the Department of Public Works asked City Council for an additional two weeks to review the bids before giving further recommendations for moving forward.
The plans call for a resurfacing of E. 9 Mile from Woodward Avenue to West End, a water main replacement, a road diet reduction of lanes, and other aesthetic features intended to extend the look and feel of Downtown Ferndale eastward.
DPW Director Loyd Cureton said one reason for the difference between the estimate and the bids was because they had required two phases to the project, breaking in the middle for Dream Cruise. “There are a few hundred thousand dollars that can be attributed to the additional staging,” he said. “And the other costs appear to be across the board. They’re high in a number of categories.”
The project came about because each year cities submit applications to MDOT for funding, but getting it is based on a points system and there are always more applications than funds available. When approvals come, cities generally take advantage. But this also means spending some of their own funds too.
In this case MDOT’s maximum contribution would be $678,000 dollars and Ferndale would be responsible for the rest.
Cureton explained that council could either accept the bid as is, reject it completely, or start the bidding process over with the less components to it. For example they could remove the water main portion of the project or do the project at one time instead of in two phases. There is still time to do the work this year if they accept the bid. Other options would likely mean a delay.
“I would ask council to allow us to review the bid tabulations and converse with MDOT to better make recommendation as the next council meeting,” he said. “We have time to do that.”
Councilperson Dan Martin asked Cureton to better explain why the difference was so great between the estimate and the bids. Cureton said that the bidding environment was such that several of the MDOT projects had the same problem, but that as they review the details he would come back with a better answer for that.
Councilperson Greg Pawlica brought the issue of the DIY Festival, which was cancelled this year by organizers due to the planned construction. Councilperson Melanie Piana stated that she had talked to the event coordinator and that even if the construction did not take place “it is not possible to ramp up planning to do the kind of festival people have come to expect.”
Council will re-visit the issue at their next meeting, which is June 23 at 7pm. The city has created a website to help people better understand the construction projects being done, which can be found at www.ferndalemoves.com.

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