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Washington County awards 2026 road and services bids; county engineer cites notable material cost declines
Summary
The county approved its 2026 annual bid awards for mowing, culverts, bridge construction, fuel, asphalt materials and emergency debris removal; staff reported several line-item price drops that could save the county roughly $100,000 depending on road selections.
Washington County Commissioners Court voted Dec. 16 to award its 2026 annual bid items, including mowing, culverts, bridge construction labor, fuel transport, asphalt emulsion and emergency debris removal.
County Engineer Wesley Stokes (introduced on the record as county engineer) presented highlights from the bids and recommended awards. He told the court the bids showed modest overall changes compared with recent years and noted several cost reductions that the county expects to benefit from in 2026.
Notable figures cited by Stokes included a 23% reduction in SS1 prime-coating oil from $2.86 to $2.21 per gallon and a drop in pre-coated grade 4 topping material from $95 per ton last year to $75 per ton in the winning bid. Stokes said the latter change could translate to “approximately a $100,000 in savings” depending on the roads the county chooses to work on next year. He also reported that mowing bids decreased roughly 2% and that culvert prices were largely unchanged.
Stokes and the county engineer’s office recommended awarding multiple vendors based on capacity; the court approved the recommendation. The decision also authorized staff to proceed with regular procurement steps and to pursue alternate bidders for items that did not receive responses (Stokes noted missing bids for aviation fuel and some steel products, which staff will re-advertise).
Commissioners and staff discussed the county’s typical yearly volume (Stokes said the county runs about 60,000 to 70,000 tons of base material per year) and urged diligence on material quality testing for the lower-price vendors. Stokes said bids would be checked for quality and testing results before procurement was finalized.
The court approved awarding the 2026 annual bid items as presented and also authorized the engineering department to solicit separate bids for aviation fuel, flexible base (pit) and steel products with a return to commissioners on Jan. 6 for final award.
