PORT ANGELES – It was billed as Clallam County government’s most expensive construction project – but it may be too expensive to construct.
Bids to replace the one-lane bridge over the Elwha River came in $5 million to $6 million over the county’s estimate Tuesday, postponing the project, perhaps killing it.
“I thought my estimate was high,” County Engineer Ross Tyler said after county commissioners opened the two bids, one from a Pierce County contractor, the second from one in King County.
Clallam expected to spend about $10.9 million to replace the bridge with a double-deck span that would carry cars, hikers and bikers across the river.
Parsons Corp. of Sumner bid nearly $16.4 on the project. Atkinson Construction LLC of Renton bid almost $17.4 million.
Public Works Director Craig Jacobs said, “There’s certainly not that much extra money lying around.
“It’s not likely we’ll have five or six million dollars to kick into it.”
