WESTFIELD – City officials are reviewing bids submitted from four contractors to ensure the documents comply with bid specifications for construction of elements of the next Columbia Greenway element, which includes installation of a bridge over East Silver Street and a 25-foot-long underpass, linking the Hedges Avenue/St. Dennis Street neighborhood with the Taylor Avenue/Ashley Street neighborhood.
City Purchaser Tammy Tefft said that four construction companies submitted bid packages for the Columbia Greenway work ranging from a low of $698,897 to a high of $781,663 and that she is currently vetting the bid documents.
“I plan to complete verification (today) and hopefully by Monday we can make the (contract) award,” Tefft said Thursday.
City Engineer Mark Cressotti said awarding the contract needs to be expedited because the contractor has to order the steel needed for the East Silver Street Bridge and complete construction of both the bridge and the underpass by June 30. Cressotti said the rail trail work is being broken into “elements” because of the lead time needed to order the steel for the bridgework.
“There will be a couple of pieces to the Greenway construction and a couple of contracts associated with that next phase,” Cressotti said. The phase is being broken into elements because of the need to award the structure work as early as possible to meet the June 30 grant deadline.
The city was awarded a $2 million grant from the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to extend the Columbia Greenway from its current terminus on the south side of East Silver
Cressotti said the underpass will be a precast box culvert delivered in sections. The structures contractor will remove a section of the raised rail bed, install the culvert sections, then backfill and compact the rail bed so it does not settle over time.
“The apparent low bidder is ET&L, the company that did the last phase of work,” Cressotti said. That phase of work included construction of a new Greenway bridge over South Meadow Road and rehabilitation of Tin Bridge over Little River.
Tefft said ET&L Corporation of Stow submitted the low bid of $698,897 for the bridge and underpass work.
“The ET&L bid was a little higher that our estimate, but it’s about $70,000 less than the next low bid,” Cressotti said. “The grant came directly to the Engineering Department so the contract can be moved forward expeditiously without having to go to a board. My understanding is that this whole phase, not just these elements, has to be June 30.”
Tefft said that the second low bid of $767,340 was submitted by Northern Construction Company of Chicopee. The next low bid of $768,440 was from Construction Dynamics, Inc. of Clinton and the high bid of $781,663 was submitted by David G. Roach & Sons, Inc. of Chicopee.
The next phase of work also includes the initial work of the Westfield River Levee “Riverwalk” multiuse path which will be linked to the northern section of the Columbia Greenway rail trail which will be constructed by the state Department of Transportation (DOT).
The proposed DOT project, being funded directly by the state, begins in the area of Cowles Court on the south side of the Westfield River and ends at the Women’s Temperance Park on the north shore of the river. The project includes rehabilitation of the former Pioneer Valley Railroad Bridge over the Westfield River.
The total DOT project length is approximately 853 ft. or 0.16 miles. Elements of the project include installing a new cement concrete bridge deck measuring 10 feet in width and rehabilitating the bridge abutments and center pier.
The scope of levee work under the city’s $2 million grant includes construction of a multiuse path on the levee between Elm Street and Sackett Street.
