Meeker County awards Casa 34 bridge contract, cites $1.1 million in grant support

Meeker County commissioners voted to award the Casa 34 Bridge replacement contract to Structural Specialties of Hutchinson, Minnesota, after county staff presented funding and bid details.

Phil, the staff presenter, told the board the 1963 timber structure over the North Fork of the Pearl River near Litchfield had received three bids and the low offer — $1,852,555.61 — was ‘‘pretty close to our engineer's estimate’’ of about $1,850,000. He said, ‘‘One thing we do have going for us in this project is some outside funding to help with lifting that dollar amount. We have $400,000 of federal on‑system funds that we were successful in receiving and then about a $717,000 state bridge grant.’’

Commissioner Schmidt moved to award contract SB047634012 to Structural Specialties and Commissioner Van Ort seconded. The board voted in favor and the motion carried.

Staff discussed construction timing and coordination: work is tentatively scheduled to start in May, and the county will avoid closing the bridge over winter. Commissioners noted coordination with other nearby projects to prevent parallel route closures that would overly disrupt traffic.

The decision authorizes county staff to proceed with the contract award; next steps identified by staff include the contractor mobilizing and scheduling construction and county coordination on detours and right‑of‑way needs. No further board action was recorded on the item at the meeting.

The board’s packet and staff remarks indicated external funding reduced the county share but did not provide a final, fully vetted project cost; staff advised that more precise cost figures will be available after preliminary construction planning and layout work.