Orting council approves change orders for emergency evacuation bridge; Quigg Brothers contract revised to $7.42 million

The Orting City Council on March 26 authorized the city administrator to execute three change orders for the Orting Emergency Evacuation Bridge, revising the Quigg Brothers Incorporated contract to $7,423,061.36.

City staff described a mix of additional site work and deductive items that produced a net reduction in the contract price. Ryan, a staff member, said, “At this point, we have a net deduction in overall total project costs.” The motion to authorize change order No. 2 for $323,530.85, No. 3 for $106,501.56 and No. 4 for $25,669.80 and to set the revised contract total of $7,423,061.36 for contract 2024-01 with Quigg Brothers Incorporated was made by Councilmember Hogan and seconded by Councilmember Sprowl; the motion passed unanimously.

Why it matters: the project includes a new bridge intended for emergency evacuation and associated trail work that affects pedestrian and school travel routes. Council and staff said some work was added quickly to provide a safer detour around the active construction zone and to avoid routing heavy or pedestrian traffic adjacent to the project site.

Staff briefed the council that change order No. 1 added $30,386.35 for temporary construction easement site work. During value-engineering discussions, the city and contractor revised plans for an existing sanitary sewer force main: rather than filling the entire abandoned line, the city elected to fill only the portion beneath Highway 162 with concrete and leave the remainder available for potential future use, which produced a deductive change that reduced costs.

City staff described an unplanned but safety-driven detour solution along Old Pioneer Way adjacent to the Foothills Trail and nearby school pedestrian routes. That work was tracked as force-account work and was reported in the agenda materials at about $104,000; the work also included paving completed earlier than originally scheduled. According to staff, the combination of deductive and additive items resulted in roughly $200,000 net decrease from certain contract line items compared with prior figures; the original contract amount shown in the materials was $7,584,034.50 and the council was told the overall project budget could be up to $9 million.

Councilmember Tracy asked for clarification about the “net deduction.” Tracy said, “I just would like him to explain that.” Ryan explained the mix of added safety-related trail work and the deductive change to the force main that together produced the net change. Councilmember Gunther asked whether the change orders were anticipated; staff replied the trail detour and force-main reduction were not originally anticipated, though the latter produced overall cost savings for the city.

The motion was recorded as made by Councilmember Hogan and seconded by Councilmember Sprowl. The council indicated unanimous consent; no opposing votes were recorded. The agenda identifies the contract as contract number 2024-01 with Quigg Brothers Incorporated and the project as the Orting Emergency Evacuation Bridge. The agenda materials also show the contractor issued a notice to proceed on Jan. 13 (date shown in meeting materials).