ROCK SPRINGS – Western Wyoming Community College’s Board of Trustees are pleased with a project bid they approved that will reroute the college’s water main as part of the construction of the new health science building.

The bid the board unanimously approved is less than half the originally estimated $300,000 cost. The board awarded the $120,099 bid to High Desert Construction of Rock Springs, who was the sole bidder on the project.

Board member Neil Kourbelas said the bid was “almost too good to be true.” Burt Reynolds, the vice president for administrative services at the college, said it’s impossible for them to anticipate what bids will look like for capital projects then they come to the college. Reynolds said they’re seeing a situation where some bids come in higher than anticipated, while others, such as the water line project, are lower. Reynolds said a recent sewer line project was bid higher than the college anticipated and when viewed with this water line work, results in a sum near what was expected to pay for both.

“Well jump on it, this is great news,” Kourbelas said.

According to meeting documents, the request for bids was authorized in March. Both the City of Rock Springs and the Joint Powers Water Board required the water line to be separated from the college’s health sciences addition. The line will be rerouted to run under the nearby parking lot to help prevent issues with construction related to the health science building construction schedule.