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County awards $460,310.75 guardrail contract and accepts federal supplement for roadside delineators
Summary
Cowlitz County awarded a $460,310.75 contract to Columbia River Contractors for 2024 unit-price guardrail installation and repair and approved a federal supplemental agreement to add delineators on local roads, adding $170,000 in federal construction funding and $15,400 in county funds.
The Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners approved two public-works motions Jan. 6: a contract award to repair county guardrails and a supplemental federal grant to install roadside delineators on local access roads.
Susan Eugenis, Cowlitz County engineer, told the board that the guardrail project went to bid Dec. 3 and that Columbia River Contractors submitted the lowest responsive bid at $460,310.75, roughly $160,000 below the engineer’s estimate. The unit-price contract is structured to address currently damaged guardrails; the county may extend the contract through 2025 and issue change orders if further damage occurs. Commissioners noted recurring damage to guardrails and that reported accidents can sometimes allow the county to recoup costs from responsible parties.
Eugenis also explained a federal Highway Safety Improvement Program supplemental agreement to fund a countywide roadside-delineator installation. The county requested an additional $170,000 in federal construction funds — bringing the federal contribution to about $185,400 when combined with an earlier $15,000 authorization for preliminary engineering — and will provide $15,400 from the County Road Fund for construction. Delineators are the reflective roadside posts intended to reduce run-off-the-road crashes on rural local-access roads, the engineer said.
Both motions passed on voice votes with affirmative responses recorded by the commissioners. Commissioners asked whether guardrail posts would be replaced in kind (wood posts remain standard except where end sections are upgraded to current standards), and staff said they generally replace posts in kind to maintain consistent run behavior except where end sections are upgraded to meet current safety criteria.
Eugenis said the guardrail contract unit prices would apply to later repairs performed under the extension; if work exceeds the contract amount, the county will return for change-order authority.
