Goodfellow Bros. submitted the apparent low bid to build the western end of Saddle Road. Goodfellow Bros. submitted the apparent low bid to build the western end of Saddle Road. ADVERTISING According to a bid summary posted on the Central
Goodfellow Bros. submitted the apparent low bid to build the western end of Saddle Road.
According to a bid summary posted on the Central Federal Lands Highway Division website this week, the company submitted a bid of $33.3 million to build the portion of Saddle Road from about mile marker 42 west to the new junction with Mamalahoa Highway.
Nan Inc.’s bid was second lowest, at $39.6 million. Nevada-based Road and Highway LLC submitted a bid of $40 million, and Isemoto Contracting Co. had the highest bid at $47.2 million.
A Federal Highways Administration spokesman was unable Tuesday to provide a timeline in which the contract would be awarded or an update on the grading and grubbing contract under way for the portion of realigned road. The realignment cuts several miles off the driving distance between Hilo and Kona by moving the intersection with Mamalahoa Highway about seven miles closer to Kailua-Kona.
According to the state Department of Transportation’s Statewide Transportation Improvement Program’s May 31 revision, the full project, including work already completed on the eastern end of the highway, is expected to cost $250 million. That includes an expected $75 million in federal funding for construction over the next four fiscal years, through Sept. 30, 2016.
The 2010 final supplemental environmental impact statement selected the proposed alignment, referred to in planning documents as W-7.
Saddle Road, so named for traversing the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, was first built as a Jeep road in 1942. The Hawaii territorial government took over the road in 1945, followed by Hawaii County assuming maintenance responsibilities in 1954. Newspaper articles from the 1970s indicate plans to move the junction with Mamalahoa Highway south from the current intersection. Those plans resurfaced every few years since, slowed by worries about the habitat for the endangered palila and concerns from military officials about the impact a new road alignment could have on military training exercises in the area.
Former Big Island Mayor Dante Carpenter spearheaded some road repaving efforts in the 1980s. A Saddle Road Task Force, formed in the 1990s, pushed for road improvements. Federal funding, earmarked by Sen. Daniel Inouye, finally provided the means for significant road improvements, beginning on the Hilo side and moving west.
The state has also begun environmental planning meetings for an extension of Saddle Road, which would run from Mamalahoa Highway makai to Waikoloa Beach Drive at Queen Kaahumanu Highway. The state Department of Transportation is considering at least three routes, both near and around Waikoloa. A consultant in May said construction on that new road segment could begin as early as 2017, with a possible completion date of 2019.
