GREEN RIVER — The City of Green River will start a $1.9 million reconstruction and improvement project on Faith and Evans Drives around August. The project is to be completed using 6th penny funds.
The bid, from Kilgore Companies, LLC dba Lewis & Lewis, Inc., came in $760,000 lower than the city’s engineer’s estimate of $2.6 million. The engineer’s estimate is based on market research which involves gathering recently published unit price averages from various sources such as the Wyoming Department of Transportation and other DOTs from surrounding states. It also factors in unit prices historically observed for projects within the city of similar scope.
City professional engineer Dustin Romero said the 2024 Faith & Evans Drive Reconstruction and Utility Improvements Project aims to completely rebuild all of Faith Drive and a portion of Evans Drive. He said the project also includes improving the water distribution system and the storm drainage system.
“This is a needed project that’s been a long time in the making,” Romero said.
Once the project is started, which is slated to be around August, it is expected to take 120 days.
Due to the Hilltop Baptist Church being located on Faith Drive, Senior Pastor Dr. Clint Scott asked the Green River City Council if there was any way to postpone the project until next summer where they could get an earlier start on it.
“It would seem to me that starting late in August, weather is going to move in,” Scott asked. “What’s in place for delays?”
He also questioned what will be in place to ensure proper access to the church.
Romero said that the city will communicate with the contractors to have a plan in place, and that the contractor will watch the weather and try to predict it. He pointed out that they’re local contractors so they understand the Wyoming weather, and they’ve done work in the city before.
“They’re confident they’ll be able to get it done,” Romero said.
He said the city always works closely with contractors and that the contractors will do everything they can to get the project done in a timely manner, which includes working extended hours.
The City Council unanimously approved the bid for the construction project. However, with Lewis & Lewis being the only bidder, Council Member Gary Killpack questioned why projects in Green River often only receive one bid.
“I’m concerned why we always get one bidder,” Killpack said.
Council Member Ron Williams also expressed concerns with the low amount of bidders the city receives and asked if the city is requiring too many certifications for contractors that they may need to loosen up on. City Administrator Reed Clevenger said that it is not up to the city to set those criteria, however, it could be something that the city engineers work with the state on.
Williams said he worries the contractors will start realizing they’re the only ones bidding and they’ll start bidding high.
Clevenger also noted that the consistency of a 6th penny program could provide an ability to consistently have projects moving forward, which could encourage more contractors to bid. He said when those projects are on and off again, there’s only going to be a couple jobs in the area at a time.
