Phase II of the Devil’s Track Lake Road (CSAH 8) reconstruction project is going to cost way less than the amount the Cook County Highway Department had expected to pay. The engineer’s estimate was just under $2,010,230, but on April 17 the county board awarded the project to Ulland Brothers Inc. with a bid of $1,206,450.
“We received excellent bids for this project,” said Highway Engineer David Betts. The highest of three bids was by Northland Constructors at $1,571,893.
Commissioner Sue Hakes wondered why the discrepancy between the engineer’s estimate and the bids was so high. Engineer Betts said that because Cook County has no asphalt providers, they make estimates by averaging prices in other areas, and those prices vary from project to project. With the CSAH 8 project, they have a source of gravel for the bituminous just up the road. “I never want to be below bid,” Betts said of his estimates. “This was an exceptionally low bid.”
Betts expects the work to begin in May and be done by mid-June, but Century Qwest has a job it needs to complete in the area first. The project is funded by the state and must be completely done by sometime in August.
KGM Contractors will be finishing a nearby portion of the road this summer. The airstrip is also slated for repair, so coordinating all the construction traffic could get complicated. Betts expected both KGM and Ulland to bid on the airstrip project. “We’ll work it out,” he said.
Conundrum for one patch
The county board had a tough decision to make on April 10 regarding whether to sign a document that would allow the entire Devil’s Track Road project to be completed.
A 100-foot-wide quarter-mile-long strip of land between the section already worked on and the section to be started soon requires an act of Congress in order to be released into the hands of the Cook County Airport.
A request for the required legislation is moving through Congress right now. Once the legislation has passed, the airport can sell a right-of-way to the Highway Department. The state requires the county to have the right-of-way because this project involves hiring outside contractors.
The Cook County Highway Department must complete the work this summer in order to avoid being penalized for having too much money in its State Aid account.
The road was relocated in the 1950s onto land that had originally been owned by the federal government but was subsequently owned by the airport (which is actually owned by the county). A provision in the deed required that the land revert back to the federal government if it were not used for the airport. Selling a right-ofway would require approval by Congress.
To fill in the gap while the legislation is pending, the Highway Department proposed that the county board and the Airport Commission sign a temporary permit allowing the construction. In that agreement, the Highway Department commits to purchasing the right-of-way from the airport as soon as it can legally do so.
The airport has applied for a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant for improvement and expansion. By signing a temporary permit, however, the Airport Commission could be viewed as veering from terms of the potential grant because it lacks the authority to grant the rightof way.
Airport Manager Rod Roy said the FAA has thrown roadblocks in the expansion project and he thought they might use this agreement for a temporary permit as an excuse to deny the grant. He said the FAA warned them of a risk to the grant but did not tell them not to sign the agreement. He said the risk of losing the federal grant was low, but the cost could be high.
The potential FAA grant for improvement and expansion of the airport would be in the millions of dollars.
The board unanimously passed a motion approving a commitment to the airport to purchase the right-of-way as soon as it can legally do so.
In other county news:
Lutsen Mountains will be contributing about $135,000 toward the road reconstruction project at the end of County State Aid Highway 5 (Ski Hill Road) this summer. The county board awarded the bid to Ulland Brothers Inc, which came in with the lowest of four bids at $662,222. The engineer’s estimate for the project was just under $677,062. The highest bidder was Northland Constructors with a bid of $813,501.
Cook County will be exchanging with Norman County $1,000,000 of its federal funds for a Gunflint Trail (CSAH 12) project for $1,000,000 of Norman County’s state aid funds. This will allow Cook County to put off the Gunflint Trail project to 2014 and do a project on County Road 7 next year instead.
“We aren’t going to have the plans ready to go for 2013,” said Betts. He said he also hoped a land exchange with the U.S. Forest Service would be completed by then, leaving the county with more gravel available for the project.
The board approved the purchase of a vertical baler for the Recycling Center at a cost of $11,794. Replacement of the horizontal baler had been budgeted for this year at a cost of $57,000, but it is still functioning well, whereas the vertical baler in the public drop-off area has only been working intermittently.
According to Planning & Zoning Director Tim Nelson, “We currently have to continually add hydraulic fluid and keep a bucket beneath the motor due to an incurable leak to the system because replacement parts are no longer available.”
The board authorized a permit to close one lane of the upper dozen or so miles of the Gunflint Trail for 3½ hours on Sunday, May 6 for the fifth annual Ham Run Half Marathon and 5K. Cars will be led along the route by a lead vehicle.
The Minnesota legislature is considering moving the fishing opener a week ahead of normal so it doesn’t coincide with Mother’s Day. It would coincide with the Ham Run, however. “It would add four vehicles to the end of the Trail,” said race organizer Sue Prom, who also owns Voyageur Canoe Outfitters near the end of the Trail. “Fishing opener is never a big deal no matter what.”
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