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Council committee recommends awarding high-friction roadway contract after single bid
Summary
City staff told the committee one responsive bid was received for a federally funded demonstration project to add high-friction surface treatment at six locations; committee voted to forward the award to council with the mayor's recommendation and a 10% contingency.
City transportation staff told the Land Use and Transportation Committee that only one responsive bid was received for a federally funded high-friction surface treatment project and recommended awarding the work to that bidder.
Shuma Chaturpathai, the city's traffic operations engineer, told the committee that Combined Construction Inc. was the lone responsive, responsible bidder with a total construction bid of $535,196 for treatments at six curve locations chosen based on crash history. She said the project budget includes a 10% construction contingency ($54,000) and $80,000 for in-house construction management and inspection, for a total estimated construction expenditure of $669,196. Available funding includes an HSIP grant administered by WSDOT of $852,000 and $22,100 from the motor vehicle and fuel tax fund.
The mayor recommended moving forward with the award to the low responsive bidder and authorizing a maximum contract authority of $589,196 (bid plus contingency). Committee members asked technical and schedule questions. Council member Daniel asked what the treatment is; Chaturpathai described it as a bonded layer with calcined bauxite added to increase surface friction and said applications are typically less than 1¼-inch thick and are added to the existing road surface. Committee members confirmed the work is intended to reduce run-off-road crashes on curves and that the grant is a demonstration grant to test the material in different climates.
Committee members clarified timing and budget questions. Staff said construction will be scheduled in the warmer months (May–September) because the material requires ambient temperatures in a roughly 55–105°F range; one location will require nighttime work. Staff explained the $80,000 construction management line covers city staff time and will be billed to the grant where eligible. Regarding spare grant funds, staff said unspent HSIP grant money cannot be retained by the city and must be returned unless the grantor allows adjustments; in practice, under-spending can lead to the city keeping unobligated local match if the grant agency so permits at closeout.
After discussion the committee moved to forward the mayor's recommendation—award to Combined Construction Inc., authorize the contingency, and allow the mayor to execute the contract—to the City Council consent agenda for approval.
What happens next: The award will be on the City Council consent agenda; construction timing will be constrained by temperature limits and by the invoicing/reimbursement schedule required by the HSIP grant administrator.
