June 24, 2010
By MEGHAN V. MALLOY
REGISTER WRITER
Projects will improve traffic flow near new high school, middle school
Contracts for two major road projects near the sites for the new high school and middle school in Prairie Trail got a green light from the council last week.
Improvements at the intersection of Southwest Magazine Road and South Ankeny Boulevard will start by the end of this month, officials said at the June 7 council meeting.
Council members voted 4 to 0, with Gary Welch absent, to award the contract to Manatts, Inc. of Johnston. Seven firms submitted bids for the project, which was estimated at about $1.4 million. Manatts had the low bid at just over $1.2 million.
The project will repave Ankeny Boulevard, which is part of U.S. Highway 69, just north and south of its intersection with Magazine Road. Turn lanes will be added at Magazine and the project also calls for storm sewer updates, new medians and traffic signals.
“It’s going to be quite a bit of work at a busy intersection,” said Matt Ahrens, a city engineer. “The main entrance to the (high) school will be near there, and now is the natural time to get it all upgraded.”
City officials anticipate the intersection will be rebuilt before the start of the 2011-12 school year, which is when the new high school and middle school to the west will open.
The rest of Ankeny Boulevard between First Street and Southeast Oralabor Road is being patched and repaved this summer through a state project. The city received $1 million from the first round of federal stimulus money for that work, and state is paying for the balance of the roughly $2.1 million cost.
The council also voted 4 to 0 to choose a contractor to pave and make other improvements to Magazine Road west from Ankeny Boulevard to the Cherry Street extension, and construct the portion of Cherry Street that runs from the new high school to the new middle school.
That project is divided into three phases. The first included initial grading and underground utilities installation, which was done by McAninch Corporation, said Public Works Director Paul Moritz.
The paving contract awarded last week is the second phase. The final phase will be landscaping.
Seven companies submitted bids for the paving phase. Alliance Construction Group of Grimes had the lowest bid, at just over $1.5 million, and was awarded the contract.
“Were you surprised the bid was so high?” Councilman Dave Kissinger asked Moritz.
Alliance’s bid was only about $22,000 under the estimate; three of the seven bids were over $1.7 million.
“There were some competing projects up for bid in other towns, so for the figure to be higher isn’t so much of a surprise,” Moritz said, noting Alliance’s bid was less than 1 percent below the estimate. “We were quite pleased about that.”
The contract states the Magazine and Cherry paving project must be completed in 70 working days, meaning the completion date relies heavily on seasonable weather, Moritz said.
“It could be done by the end of this year, or as late as next spring,” he said.
Either way, Moritz added, the paving – as well as the project’s third phase of landscaping – will be completed well before the high school and middle school open.
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